The life of a Japanese man kidnapped by North Korea 3
They knocked him and his girlfriend down from behind.
That was July 31, 1978.
`At first, I thought I could resist a little. But in such a situation, especially after I was beaten, I was completely numb with fear,` Hasuike told reporters in early September.
Kaoru Hasuike during an interview with the press in 2017. Photo: Asahi Shimbun.
The Japanese government said it was able to confirm with certainty that 17 Japanese citizens, including 13-year-old schoolgirl Megumi Yokota, were kidnapped by North Korea between 1977 and 1983, adding that hundreds of Japanese
Five Japanese people kidnapped by North Korea, including Hasuike and his girlfriend Yukiko, now his wife, were allowed to return to Japan in 2002 after prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang and held talks with the Japanese leader.
Tokyo rejected Pyongyang’s claim that eight other Japanese abductees died and that the remaining four were never returned to North Korea.
`There is a complete lack of evidence confirming their death. All eight remaining abductees are believed to be alive and they must all be brought back to Japan immediately,` said Akio Nishizumi, a lawyer at the Secretariat.
Pyongyang has repeatedly insisted that all Japanese abductees alive have been returned to the country, but has never returned the remains of those it says are dead.
The nightmare happened to Hasuike too quickly.
No one told Hasuike why he was kidnapped.
Nearly 25 years later, Hasuike lived in a specialized area for foreigners kidnapped to serve the government in Pyongyang.
Hasuike suspects this is North Korea’s plan to turn them into spies.
North Korea’s next idea is to put kidnapped foreign citizens into a foreign language training program.
Next, Hasuike was assigned the job of translating articles in Japanese magazines and newspapers into Korean.
Two decades after being kidnapped, he finally saw a picture of his parents in a Japanese newspaper and learned the government was working to campaign for his release.
Hasuike was separated from Yokiko for 18 months after the kidnapping.
His family lived for many years near the residence of kidnapped Japanese schoolgirl Yokota.
Initially, North Korea said Yokota committed suicide in March 1993, but Hasuike said he saw her frequently until the spring of 1994. In 2004, North Korea returned Yokota’s remains to Japan, saying the remains were
But DNA testing in Japan showed that it was not Yokota’s remains, while Yokota’s medical records provided by North Korea were full of errors and obvious signs of forgery, according to the Japanese government.
Hasuike said Yokota sometimes fell into a state of depression.
Yokota’s parents, now in their 80s, and her younger brother, Takuya, have never given up believing that she is still alive.
Megumi Yokota, a Japanese schoolgirl, was kidnapped by North Korea at the age of 13.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to `frankly discuss` the issue.
Hasuike and his wife discovered their chance at freedom in 2002, when North Korea allowed them to return to visit family for a week.
In 2004, Hasuike and his wife reunited with their two children in Japan.
`People said I took a risky gamble, but I knew it was the moment I could change my life and my children’s,` Hasuike said of his decision not to return to North Korea when he was allowed to visit.
Hong Van (According to Washington Post)
