National News Remains not those of Yokota

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The remains North Korea gave Japanese officials last month are not those of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota as Pyongyang had claimed, government officials said Dec. 8.

DNA test results on the cremated remains are expected to further aggravate already tense relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang, as public pressure is mounting for the government to put economic sanctions on North Korea to force it to come clean on its abductions.

Yokota was kidnapped by North Korean agents in November 1977 at age 13, and according to Pyongyang, hanged herself. The North initially said she died in 1993, but last month corrected the date to April 1994.

In further developments, officials said Dec. 9 that scientific analysis has shown that a set of cremated remains Japan received from North Korea are not those of Japanese abductee Kaoru Matsuki.

North Korea told Japan that Matsuki was killed in a car accident in 1996 after being taken from Spain to North Korea in 1980 when he was 26.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the results were "regrettable" and that under such circumstances "it would be difficult" for Tokyo to go ahead with shipping the remaining half of a promised 250,000 tons of food aid.

Jenkins family arrives on Sado

Close to four decades after deserting the U.S. Army for North Korea, Charles Jenkins was greeted by cheering crowds in his wife's hometown on Sado Island on Dec. 8.

Jenkins' journey came 10 days after he finished serving a one-month sentence for abandoning his army post in 1965. He was released five days early for good behavior.

"Today is the first day of the last chapter of my life," Jenkins said after arriving on Sado. "It is here on the island of Sado in Japan that I will hopefully live my remaining days with my wife and my children." (The Japan Times, Kyodo)

「遺骨」は横田さんと別人

先の日朝実務者協議で拉致被害者の横田めぐみさんのものとして提供された「遺骨」が、DNA 鑑定の結果、別人のものであることが判明した。

Shukan ST: Dec. 17, 2004

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