Free Republic

North-Japan Set for “Strained” 2012 By Mok Yong Jae [2012-01-04 17:41 ] The Joint New Year’s Editorial released on the 1st did not mention Japan at all, raising the assessment that Japan will be kept far off in North Korea’s future. According to a professor with Kansai University and a North Korea expert in Japan, Lee Young Hwa, future North Korea-Japan relations will be strained. Professor Lee, speaking with Daily NK today, explained, “The main issue in North Korea-Japan relations is the ‘abductees’ problem, but for a while there will be no dialogue regarding this. North Korea will likely keep...

The Abductees We Must Not Forget By Chris Green Anocha Panjoy, an abductee from Thailand (source: Bangjon Panjoy) It was January, 1978 when Anocha Panjoy left the countryside of Thailand for Macau. Along with two friends, the 23-year old was off to work in the richer, Portuguese colony. According to the testimony of friends, Anocha left her Macau apartment on May 21st of the same year, saying she was heading for a beauty parlor. By the time she was reported missing on July 2nd, she had been gone for more than two months. Now, Anocha has been gone more than...

Paul Stookey aims 'hammer of justice' at North Korea Mon Feb 19, 9:53 PM ET Paul Stookey, who has sung about a "hammer of justice" in the US folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary for four decades, is now taking aim at North Korea's "Great Leader" Kim Jong-Il. He has written a song about Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13, and the agony of her ageing parents who believe she is still alive in the communist state which has declared her dead. "I'm holding out hope that somewhere in an automobile...

US President George W. Bush (R) pats Han-Mi Kim of North Korea on the knee at the White House in Washington. Bush called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime "heartless," after an emotional meeting with families of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean agents(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

Bush Meets N.Korean Defectors, Activists Sakie Yokota, mother of Japanese kidnap victim Megumi Yokota, testifies on Capitol Hill on Thursday before a House committee as Koh Myung Sup, a South Korean abductee listens at right. Holding up photos of her daughter is her son Takuya Yokota. /AP-Yonhap U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday morning met with North Korean refugees including seven-year-old Kim Han-mi and his family, who defected from North Korea in 2002, and Chung Seong-san, the artistic director of the hit musical “Yoduk Story” about a North Korean concentration camp. The hour-long meeting at the Oval Office...

Tokyo's DNA tests spawn a new dilemma for Seoul Paternity case highlights plight of abducted Jeolla man in North April 12, 2006 ¤Ñ Authorities in Tokyo notified their counterparts here yesterday that the husband of an abducted Japanese woman who died in North Korea was almost certainly a South Korean who was also kidnapped and taken to the North. Officials in Seoul said they would begin their own investigation into the Japanese conclusion, which was based on DNA testing of the couple's daughter and her paternal relatives. The Japanese investigation rejected the assertion by North Korea that Megumi Yokota, a...

Famous Japanese Abductee 'Married South Korean' 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...

S Korea tells activist of North's `plot' THREATENED: The head of a group supporting families of kidnap victims is allegedly being targeted by North Korean agents over his outspoken stance AP , SEOUL Tuesday, Oct 04, 2005,Page 4 Advertising South Korea's spy agency yesterday warned the country's top activist seeking the return of compatriots abducted by Pyongyang that agents from North Korea might try to attack him. The National Intelligence Service said it delivered the warning to Choi Sung-yong, leader of a group of South Koreans whose relatives are believed to have been kidnapped to the North, after receiving a...

North Korea's mystery guest By Sarah Buckley BBC News Online The last person you might expect to find in North Korea is an American soldier, especially one who has chosen to stay there voluntarily. But Charles Robert Jenkins has been in the isolated North since 1965. When offered a ticket to Tokyo by visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month, he refused. No-one knows for sure how Mr Jenkins arrived in North Korea He desperately wants to be reunited with his Japanese wife, who returned to her homeland in 2002 after Pyongyang admitted kidnapping her and several others in...

Japanese Leader Enjoys Boost in Support By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reaped the political benefits Monday of his weekend summit in North Korea (news - web sites), enjoying a boost in ratings despite harsh criticism that he failed to win enough concessions from Pyongyang. Polls in two of Japan's top national newspapers showed substantial jumps in approval of Koizumi's Cabinet — strengthening the government less than two months before elections for the upper house of Parliament in July. The surveys also indicated strong support for the results of Koizumi's one-day summit with...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il greets Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi

The Japanese Islands Are In Anger. “Not Even Explaining the Cause of Death…” SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 22:39 by Young-Ee Lee (yes202@donga.com) The Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the Government and Administration Party meeting and explained the result of the Summit and the early coming back of kidnapped Japanese people, and he is planning to meet the families of the kidnapped people in person and explain to them. However, the Administration Party said, “We value the result of the summit, but we cannot forgive that 8 kidnapped people were dead,?and strongly asked to find the truth and punish the related North...