NIGORISAWA Mihane
9th grade, Shizuoka Municipal Ando Junior High School
What do you think about the North Korean abductions issue? I strongly feel that more people should be more interested in this issue so that it does not become a thing of the past.
It was when I watched the news of Mr. YOKOTA Shigeru's death reported in June this year that I became interested in the abductions issue. I learned that the reunion with his daughter Ms. YOKOTA Megumi, who had been abducted by North Korea 42 years ago, had not happen. It has been about 18 years since the details of the abductions came to light. On learning about Shigeru, who was said to be a symbol of people seeking the return of the abductees, I was driven by a strong urge to do something.
"Have a good day," the last words they exchanged, were as casual as usual. The reality of the abductions issue packed into an anime of about 25 minutes was totally beyond my imagination. The anime "Megumi" is based on the story of Shigeru and his wife, Sakie. What I felt many times while watching the video was the pain tightening my chest.
"In addition to having my voice totally muffled, I was put in a situation where I couldn’t move my body. I was pressed so hard. I was put on a ship after dark. This is the reality of the abduction," said Mr. HASUIKE Kaoru, one of the victims, in an interview explaining his situation at that time. Megumi experienced the incident when she was in the first year of the junior high school. Her age at the time of the abduction was close to mine now, which intensified the fear I felt when I imagined something like that happening to me. That fear made my whole body shudder. Megumi's daily life, which she was supposed to enjoy, collapsed in a moment.
What surprised me most was that it took about 25 years to discover the abduction. Till then, there had been no clue about her. Megumi’s family just had to keep waiting for her return in such a situation. The sadness they felt, I thought, could never be understood by anyone other than her family.
It was at the Japan-North Korea summit meeting on September 17, three years before I was born, that the issue of her being reported "missing" began to be referred to as the "abduction issue." North Korea acknowledged the abductions and apologized. In the following month, five victims returned to Japan. It should have been a ray of hope for Shigeru, who believing in his daughter's return, kept working with all kinds of conflicts in his mind.
Until today, no major progress has been made in the abductions issue. I now feel that this incident is being forgotten. Now that the reunion of Megumi’s family has not come true, isn’t it the time to take this issue more seriously? We should be interested in what is happening "now" rather than dismissing it as an "old" story. We should fell and relay what we have learned to others. What I can do now may be really insignificant, but I have a belief: the day will come when trivial actions will become a source of optimism for the future. I strongly hope that people’s interest in the abductions issue will increase and that it will be solved soon.