Abductees' Relatives Urge Suga To Make Progress
Families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea have urged the new leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, Suga Yoshihide, to make progress in resolving the issue.
Some of the relatives spoke to the media after Suga was elected LDP president on Monday. He is most likely to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Abe Shinzo this week.
Iizuka Shigeo, the leader of the families' group, said the members hoped the issue would be settled while Abe is in office. He said it's unfortunate that Abe is stepping down, but the abduction issue still exists.
He urged Suga, who served as Chief Cabinet Secretary under Abe, to start tackling the issue immediately as some of the relatives have died without being reunited with their loved ones.
Iizuka's younger sister, Taguchi Yaeko, was taken to North Korea in 1978.
Yokota Sakie, whose teenage daughter Megumi was abducted in 1977, said she welcomes Suga's election as new LDP leader because he has worked with Abe who was committed to resolving the issue.
She said it's not easy to bring the abductees back, but the family members are getting old and feeble.
She called for people involved to use their wisdom to make tangible progress.
