Abe rapped for inaction on North Korean abduction issue
The Japan Times: 21 December 2015
The Japan Times: 21 December 2015
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy on the North Korean abduction issue is getting nowhere, Toru Hasuike, brother of abductee Kaoru Hasuike, said Monday in Tokyo. “Prime Minister Abe has risen to his post by depicting himself as a hard-liner toward North Korea, but no progress has been made on the issue. He is merely using the issue politically,” Hasuike told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
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His brother was repatriated in 2002 after being abducted by North Korea in 1978. Hasuike, who recently published a book titled “Shinzo Abe and the Cold-Blooded People Who Abandoned the North Korea Abduction Victims to Die,” said that although Abe often says Japan will “use every possible way” to solve the issue, “the Japanese government has no concrete strategy.”Abe, who in his second stint as prime minister has been serving since December 2012, has said he will resolve the abduction issue while in office, and set up a special ministerial task force.
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Japan officially lists 17 nationals as having been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s but suspects North Korea’s involvement in many more disappearances. Five of the 17, including Kaoru Hasuike, were repatriated in 2002, while Pyongyang claims eight have died and four others never entered the country. Japan has been urging North Korea to report the outcome of its latest probe into the whereabouts of all Japanese residing in the country, as stipulated under a bilateral agreement. No tangible progress has been reported so far.
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The abduction issue has prevented the two countries from normalizing diplomatic relations. Toru Hasuike said that to move the issue forward, Abe must define what exactly is meant by a true “resolution” — whether all 12 officially recognized abductees must be brought back to Japan or have their whereabouts confirmed, or whether the definition should be expanded to include the nearly 900 Japanese suspected of having been abducted by North Korea.
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“Once the definition of a resolution is clarified, Japan can negotiate toward a true agreement with North Korea,” said Hasuike, a former vice representative of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea. “With no progress made, I am worried that the issue will be forgotten in Japan. The abduction victims and their families are getting older and there is simply no more time left,” he said.
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His brother was repatriated in 2002 after being abducted by North Korea in 1978. Hasuike, who recently published a book titled “Shinzo Abe and the Cold-Blooded People Who Abandoned the North Korea Abduction Victims to Die,” said that although Abe often says Japan will “use every possible way” to solve the issue, “the Japanese government has no concrete strategy.”Abe, who in his second stint as prime minister has been serving since December 2012, has said he will resolve the abduction issue while in office, and set up a special ministerial task force.
.
Japan officially lists 17 nationals as having been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s but suspects North Korea’s involvement in many more disappearances. Five of the 17, including Kaoru Hasuike, were repatriated in 2002, while Pyongyang claims eight have died and four others never entered the country. Japan has been urging North Korea to report the outcome of its latest probe into the whereabouts of all Japanese residing in the country, as stipulated under a bilateral agreement. No tangible progress has been reported so far.
.
The abduction issue has prevented the two countries from normalizing diplomatic relations. Toru Hasuike said that to move the issue forward, Abe must define what exactly is meant by a true “resolution” — whether all 12 officially recognized abductees must be brought back to Japan or have their whereabouts confirmed, or whether the definition should be expanded to include the nearly 900 Japanese suspected of having been abducted by North Korea.
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“Once the definition of a resolution is clarified, Japan can negotiate toward a true agreement with North Korea,” said Hasuike, a former vice representative of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea. “With no progress made, I am worried that the issue will be forgotten in Japan. The abduction victims and their families are getting older and there is simply no more time left,” he said.
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