Ex-N Korean agent, abductee's relatives to meet soon

Wednesday 11th February, 11:53 AM JST

SEOUL —

A meeting between a former North Korean agent now in South Korea and the relatives of a Japanese woman abducted by the North will soon be realized, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yu Myung Hwan said Wednesday. ‘‘It is my understanding that the meeting will be held before long,’’ Yu said of the arrangements which, if realized, may provide a clue to the fate of missing abductee Yaeko Taguchi, who was taken in 1978 and believed to have been made to teach Japanese to the agent Kim Hyon Hui.

Yu, who made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference after his talks in Seoul with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, stopped short of giving further details but said arrangements are underway. Kim, who was sentenced to death for the 1987 fatal bombing of a South Korean airliner but later freed under a presidential parole, is believed to have received Japanese language lessons from Taguchi during her agent training in North Korea. Taguchi is among at least a dozen Japanese victims of North Korea’s abductions who remain missing. North Korea admitted to abducting her but says she died in 1986, a claim that Japan disputes.

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3 Comments

smithinjapan at 09:26 PM JST - 11th February

"North Korea admitted to abducting her but says she died in 1986, a claim that Japan disputes."

Fair enough, but what are the grounds for disputing it? As for Megumi Yokota, for example, the mixed up DNA samples in the ashes are pretty sound evidence that NKorea was lying about the fact that the ashes were hers, but how does this mean she is still alive? How do they know Taguchi is still alive?

It'll be very interesting to hear what this guy has to say, and I hope the man is apologetic and owns up to what he did in full, including providing any evidence on abductees that can verify Japan's claims and NKorea's lies.

The only thing I'm a bit afraid of, though, is that this talk will further worsen relations with NK, as the Japanese public tends to focus on the negative so long as they are the victims of the past, and forget about victimizing others, or any progress that has been made towards amends by either side. Lest we forget the historic handshake between Kim and Koizumi, where both apologized for past deeds and promised to move forward -- once the media in Japan got hold of Kim's admission of guilt it, all word of Koizumi apologizing for Japan was dropped, and Kim's admission of guilt was painted on the front pages of all papers across Japan. Things then spiraled to the worst they've been basically since Japan was defeated in WWII and was forced to give up the colony.

My point is that if they DO get some useful information, Japan has two options: accept the past, grieve over it a little, and try to make improve ties to see that such things don't happen again (much like when former Japanese Imperial soldiers go to China or what not and apologize for massacring people in Nanjing, etc., which of course the government simply denies!). OR, they can record it in evidence, and use it as a basis to further condone sanctions on NK and push relations even lower. My guess is, knowing Japan, they'll take the latter road.
Surge1979 at 02:37 AM JST - 12th February

Kim Hyon Hui is a WOMAN. So stop talking about a "guy."

Now this has long been overdue, perhaps because the previous people in charge of South Korea were not anti-North hardliners, but this can only mean a sign of progress. Let's see what the Norks and their people in Chongryon have to say about this!
nigelboy at 12:21 PM JST - 13th February

"It'll be very interesting to hear what this guy has to say, and I hope the man is apologetic and owns up to what he did in full, including providing any evidence on abductees that can verify Japan's claims and NKorea's lies. "

Just as I expected, smith"I get my 411 from wiki"injapan proves himself once again how little he knows about the issue.