Photo/Illutration Takuya Yokota, second from left and the head of the group of family members of those North Korea abducted, and others speak at a news conference at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on May 2. (Ryuichi Kitano)

The families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea departed for Washington on May 2 to seek cooperation from U.S. legislators and government officials for the early return of their loved ones.

The families were joined by Diet members for the first visit to the United States in four years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members held a news conference at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport before their departure.

“We want to pass on the need to have the abductees returned while their parents are still alive,” said Takuya Yokota, who heads the group of family members and is the younger brother of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she was abducted by North Korean agents in Niigata Prefecture in 1977. “Because the abduction issue is a humanitarian one, it should be separated from North Korea’s development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.”

Yokota added that the group would inform U.S. officials of its stance of not opposing the Japanese government providing humanitarian support to North Korea if all abductees are immediately returned.

Yokota’s father, Shigeru, once headed the group of family members, but he is now deceased along with another leader, Shigeo Iizuka.

“We want to gain the cooperation of the United States so the tragedy of dying before seeing their loved ones returned is never repeated,” said Iizuka’s son, Koichiro.

Only two parents of the 12 Japanese nationals still believed to be held in North Korea are alive.

The abductions were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s to train North Korean agents in Japanese culture, customs and language.

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