～外国特派員協会での会見を生中継&アーカイブス～
Monday, March 24, 2014, 12:30 - 14:00
Shigeru Yokota & Sakie Yokota
Parents of Megumi Yokota, North Korean Abductee
３月２４日（月）１２：３０－１４：００
横田滋、早紀江夫妻
北朝鮮拉致被害者・横田めぐみの両親
会見後記
今回の面会は思いがけない急展開で、年齢的なことがあるので行くことに踏み切ったが、会話の内容は政治色抜きのごく普通の祖父母と孫夫婦が交わすようなものであり、健康そうで顔色なども良く、大きな喜びであった。
このことがきっかけになり日朝間の交流が高まって、４月と言われていた日朝交渉も３月中の開催に決まり、多少は良い結果になったのかなと思っている。
孫夫婦が国へ帰ってからのことを配慮したこともあり、めぐみさんや他の拉致被害者の情報は一切得られなかったが、死亡を確定するような情報が出るまでは、くじけることなく、諦めずにやっていきたい。どの親でも同じだと思うが苦痛には感じていない。
北朝鮮も変らざるを得なくなってきていると思うので、圧力とメリットをバランスよく利用して早く解決して欲しい。
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"It was like a miracle come true," said the Yokotas about their meeting in Mongolia with the granddaughter they never knew, nearly 40 years after the 1977 kidnapping by North Korean agents of their 13-year-old daughter Megumi.
The Yokotas are the poster family of Japan's struggle to set the record straight with Pyongyang over the abduction by North Korean agents of 13 Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 80s, mainly for the purpose of training spies in Japanese language and culture.
The kidnapping was acknowledged over a decade ago by North Korea to then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political mentor. Now Abe is determined to make progress in resolving the issue of the abductees, some of whom - like Megumi Yokota - North Korea has insisted have died but Japan believes are still alive.
Was there a political angle to the suddenly arranged meeting with the granddaughter, long-sought by the Yokotas but stalled because of the lack of information over the fate of Megumi? Is this a step in the right direction in holding North Korea accountable for explaining the fate of the abductees, or a cunning ploy by North Korea to dangle a placebo to the grieving and ageing families?
Come and hear from the Yokotas, now 81 and 78, about their "miracle" 5-day trip to Mongolia to meet their granddaughter Eun-gyong, and what impact it may have on the abductee situation.
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