Families of Japanese Abducted by North Korea Fly to U.S. to Seek Cooperation; Group Set to Meet U.S. Govt Officials

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:56 JST, April 30, 2025

Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea and lawmakers from a cross-party parliamentary group departed for the United States on Tuesday to seek cooperation from Washington over the issue.

The group are expected to meet with officials from the U.S. State Department and lawmakers from the Congress in Washington.

This is the group’s first visit to the U.S. in about a year, and the first since the inauguration of the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Sakie Yokota, 89, the mother of abductee Megumi Yokota who was taken when she was 13, is the only surviving parent of an abductee after Akihiro Arimoto, the father of abductee Keiko Arimoto who was taken when she was 23, died in February at the age of 96.

“We’ve been seeking that [the abductees] will be able to reunite with their family members while their parents are alive,” said Takuya Yokota, 56, a younger brother of Megumi who heads the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, before departing from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. “Not much time remains so we want to tell [the U.S. side] that Japan and the United States need to cooperate to deal with the issue.”

Yokota said he was bringing items such as a photo of Keiko Arimoto, and a copy of a letter which Akihiro had previously received from Trump.

“I want to focus on the abduction of Keiko on behalf of Akihiro to make her case stand out,” he said.

Kocihiro Iizuka, 48, the eldest son of Yaeko Taguchi who was abducted at 22, said, “To bring relief to family members, strong backing by the United States is necessary. I want to ask again for the United States to bring up the abduction issue during talks with North Korea.”

The family members will stay in the United States through May 3, when they will also visit a think tank to exchange opinions about North Korean situations.