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The Japanese government has confirmed that the country¡¯s most famous victim of North Korea¡¯s bizarre abduction policy, Megumi Yokota, is dead but is hiding the fact for political reasons, a Korean activist claimed Thursday. Choi Sung-yong, president of the Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea made the remark in an interview with Jiji Press.
Choi quoted a Japanese government official as saying Tokyo had already made up its mind to cry foul over Yokota¡¯s remains sent from North Korea when it asked Teikyo University to conduct DNA tests on them. Choi added the move aggravated anti-North Korean sentiment in Japan to an ¡°irreversible¡± point. ¡°The Japanese officials I have met so far knew that Yokota is dead, but they can¡¯t say anything because of public sentiment,¡± he said. Pyongyang says Yokota committed suicide in the early 90s.
After North Korea handed over what it says are Yokota¡¯s remains in 2004, the Japanese government asked university and the National Research Institute of Police Science to conduct DNA tests on them. The institute failed to identify them, but Teikyo University said they were in fact the remains of several others, sparking an ongoing conflict between the two countries.
¡°Conservatives in Japan represented by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe claim Megumi is alive, and take advantage of public support to move the country to the right,¡± Choi said. Asked about speculation in the Japanese press that Yokota¡¯s South Korean husband Kim Yong-nam (45), who was also abducted, got involved in producing biological weapons, he said, ¡°Both Kim and Yokota are victims of North Korea¡¯s abduction policy, but Japanese conservatives describe Kim as a cold-blooded North Korean agent and Yokota an innocent victim to galvanize conservative groups in the nation. The time has come for Yokota¡¯s family to know the truth.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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