Japan mother, 86, loses hope of reunion with daughter North Korea abducted in 1977

Sakie Yokota, 86, wants her daughter Megumi, snatched aged 13 in 1977, home; but it’s 20 years since Japan, North Korea had high-level meeting

‘The issue has remained unsolved for so long. I feel a sense of intense, indescribable frustration. We have been waiting and working so hard’

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Japanese mother Sakie Yokota, 86, at a press conference in May. Her daughter Megumi was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 5:30pm, 16 Sep 2022Updated: 5:40pm, 16 Sep 2022

Twenty years after her hopes were raised, Sakie Yokota’s optimism that she would one day be reunited with her daughter – missing for almost half a century – has long since faded.

In its place is a deepening anger towards North Korea and frustration over the shortcomings of her own Japanese government in securing the freedom of Megumi, who was 13 when she was abducted by Pyongyang’s agents in 1977.

Saturday marks two decades since then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi travelled to Pyongyang for a meeting with Kim Jong-il, after which the North Korean leader permitted the release of five abducted Japanese nationals.

Song Il-ho, North Korea’s ambassador responsible for negotiations to normalise the relationship with Japan, said on Thursday that the issue of abductions had been “already resolved”, adding that prospects for a shift in bilateral ties “entirely depends on the attitude of the Japanese government”.

Despite such claims by the North, Sakie insists Pyongyang is lying and she refuses to believe that her daughter is not still alive. That belief has been fuelled by reports from defectors who claim they saw Megumi after the date on which North Korea claims she died, as well as the results of DNA testing on cremated remains returned to Japan.

Megumi Yokota was 13 when she was abducted by North Korea in 1977. Some say there are more than 100 Japanese people who have mysteriously disappeared. Photo: via AP

Pyongyang insisted the remains were of Megumi, but tests in Japan indicated they were from two people, neither with the same DNA as her family.