• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, February 5, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Families of Japanese ‘Kidnapped by N. Korea’ Seek International Probe

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
01/19/18
in World
North Korea Japan families abductees kidnapped

North Korea has been known to abduct citizens of other countries. Pictured is Sakie Yokota, who testified before a U.S. House committee about the disappearance of her daughter. Koh Myung Sup, to her right, is a South Korean citizen that was kidnapped. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Japanese families who believe their relatives were abducted by North Korea want the International Criminal Court to investigate the disappearances and punish the country’s leader, a support group said Friday.

They will submit a petition to the court next week, at a time when attention is already heavily focused on Pyongyang and its nuclear weapons and missile drive.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had dispatched agents to kidnap 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s who were tasked with training its spies in Japanese language and customs.

Five of the abductees were allowed to return to Japan but Pyongyang has insisted — without producing solid evidence — that the eight others are dead.

Tokyo says at least 17 people were abducted, but a support group for relatives believes the disappearance of up to 470 Japanese may be linked to North Korea.

Families of the missing, and their supporters, will submit a petition “seeking punishment of (North Korea’s) Kim Jong-Un and request a probe” into the suspected abductions of at least 100 Japanese, support group official Kazuhiro Araki told AFP.

The draft petition alleges that “not a small percentage” of the abductees are still alive, and “their freedom is severely restricted,” the Kyodo news agency reported.

The move comes as regional tensions remain high over North Korean threats. But, a recent decision to have both South and North Korean teams parade together during the Olympics has been a positive turn of events in the region.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe discussed the issue in Tokyo on Thursday, pledging to push for the conclusion of a major new bilateral security pact.

Japan’s government has said it is “cooperating closely” with the families and supporters over their petition.

A 2014 U.N. report on human rights in North Korea estimated that 200,000 people from other countries had been abducted by its agents over the decades. The practice of kidnapping Japanese people off of beaches has also been well documented.

Most of them were South Koreans left stranded after the 1950-1953 Korean War, but hundreds of others from around the world — including women from Lebanon, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Romania and France — were taken or disappeared while visiting the country between the 1960s and 1980s, the report said.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

With Contributions by AFP

Related Posts

Toru Kubota
Media Freedom

Myanmar Junta Charges Japanese Journalist With Encouraging Dissent

by Staff Writer
August 4, 2022
Japan
Business

Mother to Sue Japanese Production Firms Over Netflix Suicide Case

by Staff Writer
December 20, 2021
A man wearing a mask passes the logo of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games displayed on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on March 19, 2020.
Featured

Olympic Denial: The Last Plea to Stop the ‘IOC Pandemic Games’

by Neilton Ferreira Junior and Jorge Knijnik
October 26, 2021
Myanmar
Media Freedom

Japan Urges Release of Journalist Arrested by Junta in Myanmar

by Staff Writer
April 19, 2021
Air pollution shortens lives by more than two years on average worldwide.
Environment

Fossil Fuel Pollution Causes One in Five Deaths Globally: Study

by Staff Writer
February 9, 2021
Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, walking with soldiers.
World

Eight Countries, Including US, Denounce ‘Appalling’ Human Rights in NKorea

by Staff Writer
December 11, 2020
Next Post
Rohingya refugees arrive at a UNHCR transit centre in Cox’s Bazar, south-east Bangladesh on October 19 after spending four days stranded at the Myanmar border with some 6,800 other refugees.

Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Protest Repatriation Move

Thousands of people participated in the Women's March in 2017

US Cities Gear Up for Anti-Trump Women's March 2.0

Recommended

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
A supporter of nurses' strike and NHS holds a placard

UK Faces Fresh Mass Strikes as Wage Talks Derail

February 1, 2023
Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023

Opinion

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post