congenitaldisease: It was the 15th of November, 1977, when 13-year-old Megumi Yokota and her friend
congenitaldisease: It was the 15th of November, 1977, when 13-year-old Megumi Yokota and her friend were walking home from school in Niigata, a seaside town in western Japan. As the duo approached Yokota’s home, the two said goodbye and went their separate ways. Yokota never made it home. For the next 25 years, Yokota’s family searched in vain for her. Finally, in 2002, there was a break in the case. North Korea admitted that they had been operating a state-sponsored abduction program in which Japanese civilians had been kidnapped and brought to North Korea to teach spies Japanese language and culture so that they could successfully infiltrate the county. North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, publicly admitted to the practice and apologised. He allowed a few abductees to return to Japan but stonewalled the rest, claiming that the victims - including Yokota - had either died or killed themselves. Japan estimated that around 17 of its citizens had been abducted during the 1970s and 1980s. The cremated remains of eight kidnapping victims were flown back to Japan and it was claimed that one urn contained the remains of Yokota. However, DNA testing proved that the remains weren’t Yokota. Yokoto’s family believe that she is still alive today. -- source link