U.S. to continue addressing abduction issue

TOKYO, Jan. 8 Kyodo -
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer indicated Thursday that the United
States will continue to address North Korea's past abductions of Japanese
nationals after the launch of the new administration under President-elect
Barack Obama.
At a meeting with relatives of the abduction victims, Schieffer said it is
regrettable that the abduction issue has not been solved during his tenure and
that he will convey to his successor the importance of the problem, according
to the families.
Schieffer also told them that he will always remember a visit in 2006 to the
city of Niigata, where one of the victims, Megumi Yokota, was abducted in 1977
aged 13, and that he will not forget the abduction issue after he leaves his
post.
==Kyodo