Photo/Illutration Takuya Yokota, center, who heads the association of families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, speaks at a news conference in Washington on May 4. (Kayoko Geji)

WASHINGTON—Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea met with high-ranking U.S. officials in Washington and urge them to press Pyongyang to quickly resolve the long-standing matter.

“The abduction issue is an issue with time constraints,” Takuya Yokota, who heads the association of family members, said at a news conference in the U.S. capital on May 4.

He said many family members are aging, and they have been waiting for decades for word on what happened to their loved ones.

Yokota is the younger brother of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she was abducted by North Korean agents in Niigata Prefecture in 1977.

Yokota said he told the U.S. officials, “It needs to be solved on a priority basis,” separate from the issues of nuclear weapons and missiles.

It was the first time in four years for the family members to visit the United States. Previous travel plans were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The family members met more than 10 officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, and National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell.

Yokota said the family members were worried that the abduction issue may have been forgotten during those four years.

“It means a lot for us to have a talk with them face-to-face,” Yokota said.

Koichiro Iizuka, secretary-general of the group, said, “In the past few years, we have had worst-case situations in which an abductee loses his or her family member and will never be able to see them.”

Yokota’s father, Shigeru, died in 2020.

Iizuka is the oldest son of Yaeko Taguchi, who was taken decades ago. Taguchi’s older brother, Shigeo Iizuka, died in 2021.

Iizuka said he told U.S. officials, “We want to rescue (the abductees) as soon as possible because we cannot have any more of such cases.”

He said the officials “expressed strong sympathy and gave us warm words.”

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