Abductees’ kin want assurance of return, not just talks

April 18, 2018

Ageo, Saitama Pref.- The families of Japanese abductees in North Korea want a promise to realize their return, not just talks with Pyongyang on the issue, Shigeo Iizuka, head of the families' group, said Wednesday.

Iizuka made the request after US President Donald Trump, during talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida on Tuesday, pledged to discuss the abduction issue at his expected summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by early June.

"The abduction issue should of course be placed on the agenda," Iizuka, 79, told reporters at his home in Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo.

"We want an assurance that the Japanese abductees will be returned," he stressed.

The US-North Korea summit would be "a step forward," Iizuka said. But he warned, "We'll be in trouble if the step is made in a wrong way."

"We hope that specific action for their return home will be confirmed," he said. "I think it's possible to offer rewards to North Korea for returning abductees."

Iizuka called for holding the US-North Korea summit "under careful plans, in order not to miss this one-in-a-million chance." Jiji Press