WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2003
Abductees adjust to Japan but yearn for children
REUTERS
TOKYO: Half a year after returning from a quarter century forced stay in secretive North Korea, the lives of five abducted Japanese have taken on an increasingly normal rhythm.
Yet despite their evident relief at being back in the homeland from which they were snatched by North Korean agents, they remain haunted by the children they left behind.
Chances of a quick reunion grew dim when bilateral talks between Japan and North Korea stalled after their return last year and as regional tensions rose after US officials said Pyongyang had admitted to a secret nuclear arms programme.
"All I think about is our children. I hope for a reunion as soon as possible", Kaoru Hasuike, kidnapped in 1978 while on a date with the girlfriend he later married in North Korea, was quoted as saying by the Nihon Keizai newspaper.
His wife, Yukiko, said they had bought everything necessary to welcome their two children to Japan. "So they can 'come home' any time", she added.
The five abductees have seven children between them. All are in their teens and early twenties, with many apparently ignorant of their Japanese heritage.
Yasushi Chimura, another abductee, worried that his three children might be nearing the limits of their endurance.
"I think their suffering must be even worse than ours was", he said. "All I ask is that they manage to bear with it".
The five abductees, whom North Korea says are the only survivors of 13 people kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s, arrived in Japan to a joyous welcome on October 15 for what was originally set as a short visit - a stay extended later that month by the Japanese government.
An initial round of diplomatic talks on restoring bilateral relations then foundered over Tokyo's demand that their children be brought to Japan. Soon after, the eruption of a crisis over the North's nuclear ambitions effectively blocked further moves.
Over the past six months, the abductees have made a start at picking up the threads of the lives stolen from them - getting driver's licenses, finding jobs, and voting in elections.
Dressed in fashionable clothes and with stylish haircuts, they appear well fed and relaxed, a sharp contrast to the tense faces and rusty Japanese language skills of half a year ago.
Yet things are still far from easy.
"When I see all the men of my age working so hard as managers, I feel envious and lonely", said Chimura, who in April took up an office position at the government office of his native city. "I really feel the gap of 24 years".
Kaoru Hasuike is teaching Korean language at a university, and both the mens' wives have jobs with the local government.
Worst of all is worry about their children.
"The crime of the kidnapping isn't over for them yet", said Tsutomu Nishioka, from a support group. "As a result, they don't want to talk to the press. They worry about what impact this could have on their children".
North Korea on Monday criticised Tokyo for refusing to drop the topic of the abductions, saying the North had done everything it could to settle the matter and that Japan would pay a "high price" if it used the issue for political purposes.
Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said on Tuesday that she was sorry the families remain separated and that the government will make every effort to resume bilateral talks.
It is clear, though, that frustration is mounting.
"The return of our children and bilateral diplomacy are two different problems", Hasuike said on Monday. "I hope we will not become a bargaining tool".
A more plaintive note was sounded by Hitomi Soga, who said at a news conference: "I have two families - my parents and my sister and me, and my husband and children. Who shattered these two families?"
Soga, who has been treated for lung cancer in Japan and engaged in various voluntary works, has had an especially tough time.
Her husband is a former U.S. soldier who could face U.S. charges for alleged defection if he leaves North Korea, where he lives with their two daughters.
"Who will bring my families together again?" she asked. "And when will this be?"
Copyright 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.