Families Demand N. Korea Return All Japanese Abductees

   Tokyo, May 24 (Jiji Press)--Families of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and their supporters held a national rally in Tokyo on Saturday to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
   "We really have no time left," a participant said, bearing in mind that Sakie Yokota, 89, the mother of abductee Megumi, has become the only surviving member of the generation of the abductees' parents. Megumi was kidnapped in 1977 when she was 13.
   The rally was attended by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
   At the beginning of the event, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Akihiro Arimoto, the father of abductee Keiko, who died in February this year. Keiko disappeared in Europe in 1983 when she was 23.
   Takuya Yokota, 56, a younger brother of Megumi and head of a group of families of abductees, gave a speech calling for a Japan-North Korea summit.

(2025/05/24-22:24)