N. Korea releases Japanese drug suspect after five years of captivity

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday released a Japanese man who has
been held in the communist country since 2003 on drug smuggling charges,
Pyongyang's news agency said.
Yoshiaki Sawada, former department director of the Enterprise Co., Ltd, of Japan,
"left here on Tuesday thanks to a humanitarian measure," the Korean Central News
Agency (KCNA) said. He had been in North Korea's custody since October 2003 for
"attempting to smuggle in drugs in violation of the law of the DPRK and
international law," KCNA said. DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official
name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The report said an investigation "clearly proved the truth behind a despicable
plot hatched by" Japan to "seriously damage the prestige of the DPRK and the
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan."
hkim@yna.co.kr
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