National News Families reunite with loved ones kidnapped by North Korea

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Five Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea returned home for the first time in 24 years.

Young adults when they were snatched from Japanese soil in 1978 to serve in North Korea's spy-training camps as language teachers, the returnees are now well into middle age. They stepped off the jet, chartered by the Japanese government to fetch them from Pyongyang, into the embrace of families bearing flowers, "welcome home" banners, Japanese flags and plenty of tears.

Fukie Hamamoto, 47, sobbed as she hugged each of her seven siblings. "She is the sister she used to be," said her older brother, Yuko Hamamoto, after spending time with her on a bus to a hotel in Tokyo.

Hidekazu Hasuike, 74, hugged his long-missing son, Kaoru. "I'll never forget that moment," he said.

The reunions are temporary. North Korea did not allow the abductees to bring their children, who are mostly in their teens. Some have suggested that the children are hostages, inhibiting the returnees from telling the full truth and guaranteeing their return to North Korea.

Hanging over the reunions was North Korea's announcement last month that eight other Japanese it admitted kidnapping in the 1970s and 1980s are dead. North Korea says they died in their 20s and 30s of unnatural causes, ranging from suicide and drowning to traffic accidents and carbon-monoxide poisoning. Many Japanese doubt those reports and believe as many as five dozen others also were abducted.

Although Shigeru and Sakie Yokota's daughter, Megumi, who disappeared at 13, is among those North Korea says are dead, DNA tests showed a high probability Oct. 15 that a 15-year-old girl that North Korea said was Megumi's daughter is their granddaughter.

The abductees spoke only a few words at a news conference. In a characteristically Japanese gesture, many apologized for the worry they had caused.

The abductees will return to Pyongyang just before talks aimed at establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea begin at the end of the month.

北朝鮮拉致被害者、一時帰国

北朝鮮による拉致事件で生存が確認された被害者5名が15日、一時帰国した。チャーター便で羽田空港に降り立った5人は、約24年ぶりに祖国の地を踏んだ。

Shukan ST: Oct. 25, 2002

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