Apparently it is a positive sign that the U.S. President on April 28 listened
intently and compassionately to Sakie Yokota, mother of one of the abductees
Megumi Yokota, and her son at the Oval Office - but certainly not
in the sense the Japanese media insisted it was. It is heartening only
because the meeting indicated that the family members of those who were
abducted by North Korean agents had finally exhausted their patience with the
total inaction on the part of their government and the half-hearted lip
service by the media. In a normal situation, citizens of a sovereign country would
never bring in a petition about a bilateral issue directly to the leader of
a third country.
Back in Tokyo, the person who still claims to be the Japanese leader told
reporters, "The meeting will become a powerful [message] in terms
of enabling the U.S. government and American people to develop great interest in the abduction
issue." (April 30, Daily Yomiuri). Junichiro Koizumi reportedly added
to it a fairly predictable statement which goes: "We should also tenaciously
press North Korea to take a sincere attitude toward the issue while directing
world attention to it." So the Prime Minister did not take the recent
move by the family members of the abductees as an insult which was very close to no-confidence motion against
him. · read more (406 words)
Sunday, January 23 2005 @ 02:39 AM CST
Contributed by: Y.Yamamoto
Views: 5,043
The government and the media still keep talking untiringly over "possible"
economic sanctions against North Korea to press the reclusive nation to
disclose the whole truth about those suspected abductees. In the absence
of resolute actions by the Koizumi administration, the National Association
for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN), earlier this
month launched a campaign in which it calls on consumers to boycott asari, or littleneck clams, one of the main import items from North Korea.
NARKN said: "We have launched the call for boycott because the Japanese
people, who are increasingly mad at North Korea's unwillingness to solve
the abduction issue with sincerity, can make a tangible difference and
this won't hurt the ordinary North Korean people in anyway." · read more (1,257 words)
On December 8 Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda announced that the
cremated remains Pyongyang had said were those of abductee Megumi Yokota
had tested negative, DNA-wise, and the Japanese government lodged yet another weak protest against
the Pyongyang hoax. 12 days later (Dec. 20) Hosoda updated the press by
saying that the government was now considering somehow complying with North
Korea's demand that the five pieces of heat-processed bones be returned
to it together with the official document on the results of the DNA tests.
He added to the effect that the government felt somehow obliged to comply
in one way or the other because North Korea would certainly need both the
bones and the document to make sure the cremated remains are really fake.
In effect, Hosoda was saying, on Koizumi's behalf, that Japan was held responsible
to convince the liar that he lied. · read more (2,276 words)
Thursday, December 09 2004 @ 01:33 AM CST
Contributed by: Y.Yamamoto
Views: 2,196
The Yokotas at Dec. 8 press conference
This is not really a news. But on Wednesday, December 8, Chief Cabinet
Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda announced, in his signature way of briefing the
media, with a blank, emotionless, brainless-looking face, that the cremated
remains North Korea had said were those of abductee Megumi Yokota had tested
negative DNA-wise, and that the National Police Agency, with the help of
forensic experts at Teikyo University, had concluded the ashes were from
two unidentified persons other than Megumi Yokota.
According to the December 9 edition of the Daily Yomiuri, an NPA senior official said of this feat: "We were finally able to reach a conclusion with the help of advanced technology and experience. The North Koreans must be panicking." I don't think so. Kim Jong-Il must have grinned at the news, saying to himself "Hmmm, they have passed the certification exam I gave them." · read more (1,075 words)
Thursday, November 18 2004 @ 12:03 AM CST
Contributed by: Y.Yamamoto
Views: 2,452
Act III of the farce, produced by Kim Jong-Il and directed by Junichiro
Koizumi, took place in Pyongyang from November 9 through November 14 with now-infamous Mitoji Yabunaka, head of
the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, starring it once again. But this time around the Japan's delegation headed by Yabunaka was joined by some law enforcement officers
and forensic experts to appear on the scenes of the hospital where Megumi Yokota, one of the 10 abductees at issue, is said to have died, and of a hotel where Yabunaka interviewed a man named Kim Chol Jun who North Korea said was Megumi Yokota's husband.
When the delegation came home on Monday, by a government-chartered plane,
after wrapping up the 50-hour-long 3rd round of bilateral working-level
talks and some "field research", these gentlemen were not the
only things that were unloaded from the plane. Also unloaded from the same
jet were seven containers that were said to be full of medical records,
meteorological records, photos, and other articles presented by North Korea
to substantiate Pyongyang's 2-year-old assertion that 8 of the 10 abductees
have long been dead. · read more (1,189 words)
Saturday, October 02 2004 @ 01:58 AM CDT
Contributed by: Y.Yamamoto
Views: 2,476
If the September 27 Cabinet reshuffle carried out by Junichiro Koizumi
had a certain significance at all, it is that the PM has now surrounded
himself with "diehard" toadies who keep parroting all his blah-blah-blah
about the postal reform plans. But the reshuffle involved some by-product
which is perhaps much more important.
· read more (749 words)
In the wake of yet another round of fruitless "working-level" talks in
Beijing between Japan and North Korea (September 25-26), the Japanese media
have further stepped up their rhetoric about Pyongyang's faithlessness
and lack of sincerity. Today's Daily Yomiuri, as well as its parent Yomiuri
Shimbun, runs an editorial captioned, "North Korea's attitude shows
need for sanctions".
· read more (352 words)
Saturday, September 25 2004 @ 10:37 AM CDT
Contributed by: Y.Yamamoto
Views: 3,935
A reader's letter captioned "Jenkins being 'kidnapped' by Koizumi
administration" appeared in the July 24, 2004 issue of the Daily Yomiuri.
· read more (1,086 words)
Koizumi takes a sand bath at a hot spring resort (Dec.17) 
The Yokotas at Dec. 8 press conference