Japan’s Abduction Issue Minister Keiji
Furuya, announced yesterday that the number of Japanese citizens deemed likely
to have been abducted by North Korean agents is now 883, up from 860 at the end
of May.
The 23-person increase is attributed to
growing public interest in the issue after the North agreed to reopen the
investigation in July and Japan responded by lifting some of its unilateral
sanctions against the nation. As a result, the National Police Agency [NPA]
investigation has continued to receive more information about the missing
persons.
The NPA plans to use DNA collected from 643
consenting families, with members thought to be among those abducted, for cross
checking against the first report results, scheduled for release this month by
North Korea’s special committee on the Japanese abductees.
Kyodo News, citing a diplomatic source,
reported that Ihara Junichi, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian
Affairs Bureau, and North Korean officials with the State Security Department, met last month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, presumably to continue talks on the
matter.
