Megumi Yokota 45 years after being abducted by North Korea

On the 15th, 45 years will have passed since Megumi Yokota, who was in her first year of junior high school, was abducted by North Korea on her way home from school.

Her mother, Sakie, who turned 86 years old without being able to reunite with her, is calling for her return to Japan as soon as possible, as well as severely questioning the government's stance, which has yet to make a breakthrough.

Mother Sakie 86 years old "A terrible time has passed"

Megumi Yokota was abducted by North Korea on her way home from school in Niigata City in November 1977 when she was in her first year of junior high school.

On the 15th, 45 years have passed since then, and 20 years have passed since North Korea acknowledged the abduction at her first Japan-North Korea summit meeting.

During this time, her parents have given more than 1,400 lectures throughout the country appealing for rescue, and every time the Prime Minister changes, they have met and asked for initiatives that would lead to her return to Japan.

However, her father Shigeru, who was 45 years old when her daughter was abducted, passed away at the age of 87 years ago without any reunion.

Her 86-year-old mother, Sakie, is also starting to feel sick in her body, and is keenly aware that she doesn't have much time left.

In an interview with NHK, Sakie said, "The time has passed so badly that she doesn't want to mention the number 45. This time is her life itself, what a life it really is. I think," she said.

After that, ``I have asked every prime minister to realize a Japan-North Korea summit meeting, but it has not happened. I would like you to tell them that if you let the people go home, both Japan and North Korea will be happy and that they will be able to exchange peacefully."

At the end of her interview, Ms. Sakie said, ``I only wish that all the abductees would come back to Japan and set foot on the soil of Japan, and welcome them with great joy when they got off the plane ramp.'' emphasized.

Background of Megumi Yokota's Abduction Case

Megumi Yokota disappeared when she was on her way home from a junior high school in Niigata City after practicing badminton.

As a result of the investigation by the police dog, Megumi's smell disappeared at the corner about 100 meters from her home.

After that, her whereabouts were completely unknown, and it was 20 years later, in 1997, when the National Police Agency concluded that she had been abducted by North Korea.

Five years later, at the first Japan-North Korea summit meeting, North Korea acknowledged the abduction, but explained that "Megumi died."

However, there are contradictions and unnatural points in the explanation, and the DNA of another person was detected by the Japanese side in the remains that North Korea provided as "their own".

News in North Korea

Megumi's whereabouts in North Korea have been partially clarified from the testimony of the abductees who returned to Japan.

According to it, Megumi lived in a facility in Pyongyang city for nearly two years from 1978, the year after she was abducted, and temporarily lived with the abductee, Hitomi Soga.

Around this time, Megumi received education in Korean and other languages ​​from former North Korean operative Shin Gwang-soo, who was later ordered internationally after being involved in the abductions of Mr. and Mrs. Chimura and Mr. Hara. It means that

From around 1983, she lived in a mountainous district southeast of Pyongyang called Chungryong-ri for about three years, under strict supervision, and was tasked with teaching Japanese to the agents. I was.

Yaeko Taguchi, Mr. Hasuike and Mr. and Mrs. Chimura also lived in this area.

Around 1986, Megumi moved to an area in the northern part of Pyongyang called "Taeyangri" and joined Mr. Hasuike and Mr. and Mrs. Chimura, who had come earlier, but left this area in 1994. No further news is known.

There are many contradictions and unnatural points in the explanation of the North Korean side

[Date of 'death']

There were many contradictions and unnatural points in the explanation by the North Korean side that ``Megumi Yokota died''.

First, the date on which North Korea claims to have "died."

North Korea initially explained that Megumi died in March 1993.

The death certificate issued as proof of his death also stated "1993".

However, when the testimony of the abductee who returned to Japan revealed that Megumi was still alive, she changed her explanation and corrected her to say, "She died in April 1994."

[Cover of "Patient Mortality Register"].

There was also something unnatural about the document that North Korea issued as a "patient death register" of the hospital where Megumi was hospitalized.

On the front cover, it was written as "Patient Admission and Discharge Register", but the "Admission and Discharge" part was crossed out and written as "Death".

[Contents of the "Patient Mortality Register"]

Also, in this register, a serial number was assigned to each patient, but the number in the column for the female patient named "Megumi" is the same as that for the male patient in the next row. It was numbered.

[The age of the "medical chart"]

In addition, North Korea also issued a document called "Megumi's medical chart," but the age of the person listed here was significantly different from Megumi's age at the time. .

[“Ashes” to someone else’s DNA]

The biggest contradiction is the bones that are regarded as “ashes”.

North Korea explained that ``the body where Megumi's husband was buried was exhumed, cremated, and stored in a pot.'' DNA detected.

The government has determined that the credibility of North Korea's explanation is extremely dubious and urges North Korea to return to Japan as soon as possible.