For the families of Japanese people abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, this week marks perhaps the best week of substantial progress in many years.
Not only does Japan have a new prime minister, but US President Donald Trump is also in their world, with unfinished business in terms of returning loved ones.
Japan says at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents in the late 1970s and 1980s, in hundreds of unexplained incidents. In 2002, five citizens were returned. Some families are still waiting.
North Korea disputes the death toll, saying some people died in traffic accidents, water accidents and suicide, and considers the issue over.
The family now hopes that new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will raise the issue in a meeting with President Trump, and that Trump will raise the issue if he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his current trip to Asia.
No talks have been scheduled, but South Korea’s Unification Ministry sparked speculation last week when it announced that North Koreans were “seen cleaning North Korean facilities, pulling weeds, maintaining flower beds, pruning, and taking photos” at Panmunjom, a peace village in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North and South.
Meanwhile, President Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of an impromptu visit to the Demilitarized Zone, most recently flying to Japan on Monday and telling reporters on Air Force One that he was willing to extend his trip to Asia, ending in South Korea, for talks with Kim.
“If he wants to meet, I’d love to meet him,” Trump said. “I became very good friends with Kim Jong-un. I liked Kim Jong-un and he liked me. If he wants to meet, I’ll be in South Korea.”
Trump and Kim last met there in 2019, crossing the border to shake hands in a historic moment that was hastily arranged when Trump posted a speculative invitation on social media.
This is the first time a sitting US president has set foot on North Korean soil.
Although North Korea frequently criticizes the United States in daily state media publications, it certainly has not ruled out a meeting with President Trump. “I have fond memories of President Trump,” Kim said in a speech last month, according to state media.
President Trump has previously embraced the cause of those who lost loved ones in North Korea.
“President Trump is well aware of this issue and has met with the families of these individuals twice during his first term. He has also frequently expressed a desire to meet with Kim Jong Un,” a senior administration official told CNN.
During his first term, President Trump met twice with the families of Japanese abductees. The first time in 2017 and the second time in 2019, he stood next to then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said, “You have a great prime minister. He loves this country. He loves you. And we’re going to work together to bring your relatives, your daughters, your sons, your mothers home.”
At the same meeting, Prime Minister Abe said, “I am confident that President Trump is making every effort to resolve the abduction issue.”
After Prime Minister Abe stepped down in 2020 (and was subsequently assassinated in 2022), the role was passed on to three more prime ministers, without any sign of progress.
In March, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba placed an ad in the Washington Post informing Americans of the situation and appealing for international help.
In the ad, 89-year-old Sakie Yokota, the last surviving abductee, makes a flattering appeal directly to President Trump, hoping that American leaders will not abandon them.
“I rely a lot on the strength of the Trump administration,” she said. “I sincerely hope that President Trump will give a big push toward the return of the abductees.”
The abductions are believed to be part of North Korea’s espionage efforts, and a 2014 United Nations report said the abductees were used to “teach the Japanese language, accent, and culture to (North Korean) spies in training; to enable research to better falsify Japanese identity documents; and to enable (North Korean) agents to use the identities of the abductees to pass themselves off as Japanese.”
Yokota’s daughter Megumi is perhaps one of the best-known abductees in Japan. Megumi, then 13 years old, disappeared on her way home from school in the coastal city of Niigata in 1977.
Later, photos were released in which it is known that she got married in North Korea and gave birth to a daughter. In 2014, Sakie and her husband, Shigeru, met Kim Eun-kyung, then 26, at a meeting in Mongolia arranged by Japanese and North Korean officials. North Korean officials have said Megumi died by suicide in 1994, a claim repeated by her daughter.
But her family refuses to believe that she is gone. Shigeru passed away in 2020, leaving his wife to continue the search. Now, Sakie hopes that Takaichi, as Japan’s first female prime minister, will bring new energy to the search for answers.
“She is the first female prime minister…I feel that her feelings as a mother will give her an opportunity to seriously tackle this issue from a different angle,” Sakie said at a press conference last week.
Hajime Matsumoto, the older brother of Kyoko Matsumoto, who disappeared after leaving home to attend a knitting class in 1977, also said he was hopeful for progress under Takaichi.
“Up until now, only men have become prime minister, and there were many who said, “I’ll do it,” but didn’t do it,” Hajime said. “This time, our prime minister is a woman, so she will be persistent and patient, and will keep trying until she meets the person she needs to meet.” According to the Japanese government, North Korea denies that Hajime’s sister, Kyoko, entered North Korean territory, but Japan believes otherwise.
Mr. Takaichi, a disciple of Abe who shares conservative and hawkish views, met with his family last week and said he was willing to meet with Mr. Kim to discuss the issue.
“I will also demonstrate leadership in my own way and strive to break through no matter what.”
But the families of the abductees know that Takaichi is only part of the puzzle.
They met again with President Trump last week and said they wanted to pressure him to use the abductees as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the North Korean leader.
Takuya Yokota, Megumi’s younger brother, said, “If this happens, it will be the first time in six years that I have had a meeting with President Trump.”
Yokota, who is also the chairman of the Association of Families of Victims Abducted by North Korea, said, “At the U.S.-North Korea summit meeting, I would like Chairman Kim Jong Un to convey that things cannot move forward unless the abduction issue is resolved.”
Kenichi Ichikawa, the brother of Shuichi Ichikawa, who disappeared on the beach with his partner in 1978, said that in the end, only one man can give them what they want.
“Kim Jong Un is the only one who can return the victims and their families.”
CNN’s Iranari, Junko Ogura, Gowon Bae and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
