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Abe mourns death of father of abductee Megumi Yokota

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) bows to leave a rally to support families of abduction victims by North Korea as abduction victim Megumi Yokota's parents, Shigeru (center) and Sachie Yokota (left) look on in Tokyo on September 13, 2014. (AFP)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) bows to leave a rally to support families of abduction victims by North Korea as abduction victim Megumi Yokota's parents, Shigeru (center) and Sachie Yokota (left) look on in Tokyo on September 13, 2014. (AFP)
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06 Jun 2020 02:06:58 GMT9
06 Jun 2020 02:06:58 GMT9

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday expressed regret over the passing the same day of Shigeru Yokota, father of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted to North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13.

"It is gut-wrenching," Abe told reporters in front of his private residence in Tokyo. "I am full of sincere regret" for having been unable to realize the homecoming of Megumi and other Japanese people abducted to the reclusive state. "We must continue to act decisively without losing any opportunities to achieve the return of abduction victims," Abe said.

"I fought together for a very long time with Shigeru," the prime minister added. "I still remember tears flowing from his eyes when he was taking photographs" of five abduction victims that returned to Japan in 2002.

"I did all I could so that the day would come when he could hug his daughter, but I could not achieve that as prime minister," Abe said.

With Shigeru Yokota seen as an iconic figure of the abduction issue, his death has sent shock waves across the Abe administration, for which sorting it out is one of the most important challenges. In February, Kayoko Arimoto, mother of Keiko Arimoto, another abductee, died at the age of 94.

The prime minister may come under fire for having failed to pave the way for resolving the long-standing humanitarian issue.

"We are really sorry for the current situation in which we have seen little progress over the abduction issue," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is also in charge of the problem, told reporters. "We will continue working with a determination to bring back Megumi at any cost," the top government spokesman said.

"We must get united to resolve the issue," economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in an online program of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

A senior government official said the death of the father of Megumi Yokota will inevitably have a negative impact on public support for the Abe cabinet.

Ruling and opposition parties also expressed condolences on the news of Shigeru Yokota's death.

Yokota and his wife, Sakie, "have been a symbol of our commitment to resolve the abduction issue," LDP lawmaker Keiji Furuya, who heads a suprapartisan league of lawmakers on the abduction issue, said. "I am truly regretful that we could not achieve a reunion between the father and daughter."

"I promise to do all I can to resolve the issue, keeping Yokota's wish firmly in my mind," he added.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of the LDP's coalition partner Komeito, said in a statement, "Yokota spoke about his hopes of reuniting with his daughter when I met him."

Yamaguchi said that he likes to call on North Korea to clarify its stance of dealing with the issue in a humanitarian way, adding, "I will work hard to make (Yokota's) wish reality."

"From the couple's longtime efforts, I have sensed deep parental love and strong indignation over the senseless abductions," Yukio Edano, chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, wrote on Twitter. "So this is very regrettable."

Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People, and Akira Koike, head of the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, also posted comments of commiseration on Twitter.

JIJI Press

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