N. Korea: Famous Japanese Abductee 'Married South Korean'(Megumi Yokota married a SK abuductee)

In the latest installment of a bizarre tale involving North Korea’s abduction in 1977 of the 13-year-old Japanese girl Megumi Yokota, Japan's Kyodo news agency on Friday reported it was confirmed that Yokota later married a man who was abducted from South Korea 30 years ago. But Tokyo said it was "too early to tell" whether that is true.

The man, whom North Korean officials introduced to a Japanese delegation as "Kim Chol-jun," is believed to be Kim Young-nam, who was abducted from North Jeolla Province in 1978, a year after Yokota. The Japanese government has obtained hair and blood samples of Kim Young-nam’s relatives from the South Korean government and is comparing them with samples from an 18-year old from Pyongyang said to be the couple’s daughter. Japanese officials met the girl named Kim Hye-gyong in Pyongyang in 2002 and took DNA samples.

Kyodo reported DNA contrastive analysis confirmed that Kim Hye-gyong is the daughter of Kim Young-nam. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters, “The results have yet to come back, so we are not able to identify the husband of Megumi Yokota.”

Megumi Yokota went missing in Niigata Prefecture, Japan in 1977 and became a symbol in her homeland of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, during a 2002 summit with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang, admitted she was kidnapped by the North. Pyongyang said Yokota married Kim Chol-jun in 1986 and gave birth to Hye-gyong the following year. It claims she committed suicide in 1995 and handed over what it said were her cremated remains in December 2004. However, Japan said the remains were those of two other people. The North insists on another independent review by an outside organization and has asked for the return of the remains, citing lack of trust in Japanese experts.

Basically same story from Yomiuri Shimbun Online:

Report: Yokota married S. Korean abductee to N. Korea

Yuichiro Nakamura Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

A South Korean daily reported Friday that DNA analysis by the Japanese government had determined that a man North Korea claimed was the husband of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by Pyongyang agents in 1977, was an abducted South Korean.

The JoongAng Ilbo daily said the information came from sources in Tokyo, adding the finding could strain inter-Korean relations as Pyongyang, which claimed the man was North Korean, was sensitive about the issue at a recent reunion of separated Korean families.

The newspaper claimed Tokyo had concluded the man was Kim Chol Jun, who disappeared in 1978 when he was a high school student, based on DNA tests of blood and hair samples provided by relatives of five abducted South Koreans, one of which matched a DNA sample from Kim Hye Gyong, their daughter born in North Korea in 1987. Repatriated abductee Kaoru Hasuike and other people also have said Yokota's husband was South Korean.

In Tokyo, however, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe denied the veracity of the report. "The government is continuing its analysis of the DNA, but we don't have any results yet," he said Friday. "We haven't identified the man claimed to be Ms. Yokota's husband. It could still take some time before we get the results."

Foreign Minister Taro Aso also rejected the newspaper's claims, saying: "We don't have any results yet. The results should be available after next week."

(Apr. 8, 2006)

Foreigners Make Up 1 Percent of Korean Population

Resident foreigners now make up 1 percent of Korea’s population. Figures from the ministries of finance and justice and the National Statistical Office show that some 485,477 foreigners lived here on long-term visas, slightly more than 1 percent of the country’s 48.4 million inhabitants.

In 1992, their proportion was a mere 0.1 percent, meaning there has been a 10-fold increase over the last 13 years. In just the last three years, the proportion doubled from 0.53 percent to 1 percent.

A Justice Ministry official on Friday said by adding short-term residents, illegal residents and U.S. forces personnel the number grows to about 744,467, accounting for about 1.54 percent of the population.

Meanwhile, the government and ruling party agreed to give citizenship or permanent residence to foreign spouses of Koreans and their children to ensure better treatment of mixed-race people. They will also investigate mid- and long-term plans for a quota for mixed-race people at the nation's universities ? where they are notably under-represented ? and including them in the draft.

Roh Woong-rae, a representative of the ruling Uri Party, said the plan to extend mandatory military service to mixed-race residents came in response to suggestions that full rights should be accompanied by full responsibilities. Under current law, mixed-race individuals can join the military if they apply.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

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