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Twenty-eight young women of various nationalities including three French women were kidnapped by the North Korean secret service in the 1970s, France¡¯s Le Figaro reports. Toshio Amemiya, Director of the Secretariat, Headquarters for the Abduction Issue in the Office of Prime Minister of Japan, is quoted in the daily¡¯s Thursday edition as saying that North Korea abducted people from France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Macau, the Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, Syria and Thailand. The number of foreign women kidnapped during the bizarre campaign was 28, including three French, three Italians, two Dutch, and two Arabs.
The issue was dismissed as a rumor until four Lebanese women who were abducted in 1978 were released at the pressure of the Lebanese government the following year. The four testified to the number and nationalities of other foreign women they met in a training center in North Korea.
According to Le Figaro, the reason for the abductions was to obtain language teachers as the North Korean government was modernizing its intelligence agency at the time. The reason the issue comes up after some 30 years is because the Japanese government wants its French counterpart to take an interest in the matter. A state visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Japan is planned for July this year.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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