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Lost, Without a Trace
Newsweek via MSNBC ^ | 2/20/06 | Hideko Takayama and Evan Thomas

Posted on 02/13/2006 6:17:41 AM PST by minus_273

Feb. 20, 2006 issue - The 13-year-old girl was on her way home from badminton practice when she disappeared. Every night for five years, her mother kept the porch light on, hoping against hope for Megumi Yokota's return. That was almost 30 years ago. Then in 1996, Sakie Yokota and her husband learned that the North Koreans had snatched their daughter as part of a bizarre abduction program that had kidnapped scores of Japanese, perhaps as many as a hundred, in the 1970s and '80s. Ever since, Megumi Yokota's story has been a sensation in the Japanese press. In 2002, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, admitted to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that North Korean agents had been abducting Japanese nationals. The ruler of the Hermit Kingdom offered, along with his apologies, a list of eight Japanese who North Korea claimed had died in captivity and five who were still living. The Yokotas were initially informed that Megumi had committed suicide in 1993; the elderly couple was handed a jar supposedly containing their daughter's ashes. But DNA tests showed that the remains belonged to two different people—neither of them Megumi. "I feel like I'm going to explode. How long do I have to endure this pain?" asks Sakie Yokota, now 70.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Japan
KEYWORDS: japan; korea; missing; northkorea
" Those abducted include not just Japanese and South Koreans (nearly 500 of whom have been taken over the course of half a century) but Lebanese, Thais, Malaysians, Chinese and allegedly —Dutch, French and Italians as well. The stories that are coming out about Pyongyang's body snatchers would make for a spy movie—a very tragic one."

Chilling.

i wonder where amnesty international and other self proclaimed human rights groups are in all of this? ever hear a peep?

1 posted on 02/13/2006 6:17:42 AM PST by minus_273
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To: minus_273
Jimmy Carter sure has nice friends. </sarcasm>
2 posted on 02/13/2006 6:33:41 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
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To: minus_273

Why hasn't anybody declared war on North Korea? Doesn't anybody care that their citizens are abducted, enslaved and abused?

We should cut off aid and fuel. Mine their ports. Blow hell out their railways so nothing can move.


3 posted on 02/13/2006 6:36:04 AM PST by Little Ray (I'm a reactionary, hirsute, gun-owning, knuckle dragging, Christian Neanderthal and proud of it!)
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To: Little Ray

At least Japan pushed the issue. God knows how many South Koreans were abducted. We may never know, since the ROK sweeps the issue under the rug in the name of the "Sunshine Policy".


4 posted on 02/13/2006 6:41:38 AM PST by Ace of Spades (Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: minus_273
i wonder where amnesty international and other self proclaimed human rights groups are in all of this? ever hear a peep?

Probably down at Gitmo trying to stir up trouble.

5 posted on 02/13/2006 6:44:20 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done, needs to be done by the government.)
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To: minus_273

This is terrible. The other night there was a documentary about kidnappings here in the states where young girls are lured away from the mall or even their homes and whisked away to be sex slaves. It was truly heartbreaking. They talked to two girls, one rescued by the police and one that was able to escape. The girl that was rescued had been kept in a small dog cage and when found was in a drawer hidden under the bed.
I know the article is about N Korea, but there are people in the States stealing kids away from their parents and they may never find out what happened to them. What agency, besides the police, are finding them?


6 posted on 02/13/2006 7:56:11 AM PST by AUsome Joy
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
Regarding US relations With "Exalted Leader Kim":
"I think it's all roses now."
-- Jimmy Carter,
Interview with CNN's Judy Woodruff (upon his return from North Korea), June 22, 1994

7 posted on 02/13/2006 8:07:02 AM PST by bvw
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To: Little Ray

Yes. This should be casus NUCLEAR FREAKIN' belli.


8 posted on 02/13/2006 8:12:11 AM PST by IGOTMINE (Front Sight. Press. Follow Through. It's a way of life.)
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To: minus_273

BTTT


9 posted on 02/13/2006 8:15:26 AM PST by Richard Kimball
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To: minus_273

In this world today, any crazy leader can say and/or do anything they please without fear of retribution. Saddam is the only one to learn the hard way, but he is so crazy, it doesn't matter.

So North Korea just 'kept' 11 SK's and noone cared or did anything about it. No wonder this maniac thinks (knows) he can do anything he wants and noone will care!!!


10 posted on 02/13/2006 8:23:18 AM PST by sandbar
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To: Little Ray
Why hasn't anybody declared war on North Korea? Doesn't anybody care that their citizens are abducted, enslaved and abused?

Eventually someone will hurt a person in power, or a person who will eventually gain power. It may take years, even decades, but the history of war is riddled with conquerors that destroyed entire nations solely out of revenge out of personal grievances.

11 posted on 02/13/2006 8:27:18 AM PST by Paul C. Jesup
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To: minus_273

PMSNBC doesn't mention why the NKs want to do this.


12 posted on 02/13/2006 8:29:50 AM PST by razorback-bert
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To: AUsome Joy
Good morning.
"This is terrible."

What I find chilling is the fact that this was an action carried out by the North Korean government.

Michel Frazier
13 posted on 02/13/2006 8:30:18 AM PST by brazzaville (no surrender no retreat, well, maybe retreat's ok)
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To: sandbar

The article says that more than 500 South Koreans have been abduced over the last 50 years.


14 posted on 02/13/2006 8:36:26 AM PST by ikka
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