Yokota Urges Govt to Have Sense of Mission over Abduction Issue

   Kawasaki, Kanagawa Pref./Niigata, June 5 (Jiji Press)--Sakie Yokota, the mother of an abductee to North Korea, called on the Japanese government to tackle the abduction issue with a sense of mission, as Thursday marked five years since the death of her husband Shigeru.
   Speaking to reporters Tuesday in the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, Sakie, 89, said she feels "great loneliness" after the death of her husband, whom she described as a "serious person."
   Following the abduction of their daughter Megumi in the central Japan city of Niigata in 1977 when she was 13, Shigeru launched a group of abductees' families in 1997, serving as its first leader and working hard with Sakie to give lectures and collect signatures to call for an early resolution.
   But Shigeru died in 2020 at the age of 87, without being able to see his daughter again.
   Sakie said she could discuss anything with Shigeru. She said she speaks to the portrait of Shigeru in the living room of her home, telling it that the situation of the abductees remains unknown.

(2025/06/05-16:43)