Families Of Abductees Send Letter To Blinken
Relatives of Japanese who were abducted by North Korea are asking US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to help bring their family members home as early as possible.
Representatives of the relatives handed a letter addressed to Blinken to the US Embassy's Charge d'Affairs ad interim Joseph Young in Tokyo on Monday. Blinken arrived in Japan later in the day.
Abductee Yokota Megumi's mother, Sakie, and the abductee's brother, Takuya, met Young at the US Embassy. They urged Washington to help all Japanese abductees return to the country as soon as possible.
This is the first letter from relatives of abductees given to a senior official of the US administration of President Joe Biden.
In the letter, the relatives wrote that they support the Japanese government's repeated overtures for holding a Japan-North Korea summit without conditions to seek the resolution of the abduction issue.
They also urged the Biden administration to continue to work with the Japanese government and not to lift sanctions until all abductees return to Japan.
Young promised the Yokotas he would hand the letter to Blinken and offered Washington's continued cooperation in resolving the issue.
Sakie said she asked for Washington's aid in letting her child, who was abducted 43 years ago, as well as others, to set foot on Japanese soil again.