Ex-N. Korean Agent Meets with Abduction Victim's Family

Karuizawa, Nagano Pref., July 20 (Jiji Press)--Former North Korean
agent Kim Hyon Hui met in this central Japan resort town Tuesday with the
family of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese woman abducted to the reclusive country
over 30 years ago at age 22.
After meeting with Kim at a villa, Taguchi's elder brother, Shigeo
Iizuka, 72, and his 33-year-old son Koichiro held a press conference and
quoted Kim as saying Taguchi should absolutely be alive.
Though Kim did not provide any new information about Taguchi's
abduction, there must be some reasons for her to make such a strong
statement, Iizuka said. His son also disclosed that Kim urged Tokyo to give
considerations to what Pyangyang actually wants in negotiations to bring
back Japanese abduction victims.
The meeting, including dinner, started at 3:45 p.m. and lasted for
nearly three hours. Taguchi's another brother, Masaru Honma, 66, was also
present.
Before the meeting, Kim held talks at the same villa with Hiroshi
Nakai, minister in charge of the abduction issue.
Nakai said Karuizawa was picked as the meeting's venue because Kim
in her first meeting with Iizuka and his son in Busan in March 2009 hoped
for seeing them again in a quiet place and cooking for them.
Taken to North Korea in June 1978, Taguchi lived with Kim for some
20 months between 1981 and 1983 to teach her the Japanese language and
culture.
Kim was sentenced to death in South Korea for the bombing of a
Korean Air jetliner in November 1987, but was granted a special pardon
later. She now lives in South Korea.
The former death-row inmate arrived at Tokyo International Airport
at Haneda aboard a chartered jet in the small hours of Tuesday. During her
first trip to Japan, which was realized at the request of Tokyo, family
members of abduction victims and government officials expect Kim to tell
something new about the abductees.
Kim is scheduled to meet with the Taguchi family again on Wednesday
and hold talks the same day with the parents of Megumi Yokota, another
Japanese woman who was kidnapped to North Korea in November 1977 at age 13.