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COMJAN NEWS(Vol.1 October 7,2026)
Human Rights Issues in North Korea as Seen Through the Abduction Issue
The following text is one of the documents submitted on September 16 during the presentation to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances. Only three family members actually made the presentation; I merely answered some of the questions. Since the document itself was submitted, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste, I am posting it here.
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Human Rights Issues in North Korea as Seen Through the Abduction Issue
Kazuhiro Araki (Chairman,COMJAN)
1. About the Committee for the Investigation of Issues Concerning Specified Missing Persons
COMJAN is an NGO established on January 10, 2003, with the purpose of investigating missing persons who may have been abducted by North Korea and rescuing them if they are confirmed to be abduction victims. I have served as its representative since its inception. FAMP-DPRK was established on May 12, 2017, by families of missing persons whom the government has not officially recognized as abduction victims but for whom the possibility of abduction cannot be ruled out. In 2024, we compiled a list of 535 individuals for whom abduction is a possibility―a list that had been made public―and submitted it to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances through the OHCHR Office in Seoul.
In September 2002, then-Prime Minister Koizumi visited North Korea and held talks with Kim Jong-il. At that time, Kim Jong-il acknowledged for the first time the abductions of Japanese citizens―which he had consistently denied until then―and reported that five people were still alive. The following month, these five individuals returned to Japan for the first time in 24 years; however, since one of them, Hitomi Soga, was an abduction victim not recognized by the Japanese government, families with missing relatives began to speak out, asking, “Could my missing family member also have been abducted by North Korea?” The Investigation Committee on Issues Concerning Specified Missing Persons was established in response to these concerns. Currently, there are approximately 470 missing persons whom we believe may have been abducted, and the names, photographs, and other data for 270 of them have been made public.
We are currently engaged primarily in the following activities:
・Investigating abduction cases and North Korean subversive activities within Japan
・Providing information and raising awareness among the Japanese public regarding the abduction issue
・Transmitting information into North Korea (via the shortwave radio program “Shiokaze (Sea Breeze),” USB drives, leaflets, and faxes)
・Gathering information from North Korea regarding abduction victims
Additionally, although not an official page of the Investigation Committee, information is posted regularly on an English-language Facebook page run by volunteers interested in the abduction issue (QR code).
1. Repatriation Programs and Abductions
Among the human rights violations committed by North Korea, the repatriation of ethnic Koreans residing in Japan is an issue of equal gravity to the abduction issue for Japan. From 1959 to 1984, a total of approximately 93,000 ethnic Koreans residing in Japan and their Japanese family members emigrated to North Korea. It is said that the purpose of this was to compensate for the labor shortage caused by the Korean War (1950–53) and to make an international statement through the migration of people from a capitalist country to a socialist one; however, the vast majority of those who went to North Korea faced severe discrimination―completely contrary to what they had been told beforehand―and, with very few exceptions, are not even permitted to make temporary visits to Japan.
Although the issues surrounding the repatriation program have already been discussed in various ways, particularly in relation to abductions, there were numerous cases in which Koreans residing in Japan who went to North Korea in this manner were held hostage, and their families remaining in Japan were forced to cooperate in covert operations, including abductions. For example, take the abduction of Yutaka Kume in September 1977―the very first case of an abduction victim officially recognized by the Japanese government. One of the perpetrators, Lee Chu-gil, had a sister who had gone to North Korea, and he was coerced into abducting Yutaka Kume by holding his sister hostage. While he was, of course, a perpetrator, he was also, at the same time, a victim.
1. Political Prison Camps, Abductions, and the Repatriation Program
North Korea’s political prison camps―where it is said that approximately 1% of the population is detained―represent a quintessential human rights violation in the country. There is also information suggesting that abduction victims are held there, and it is said that many ethnic Koreans residing in Japan who crossed into North Korea through the repatriation program have also been detained.
1. Ensuring the Liberation of All People in North Korea
In North Korea, various intelligence agencies have carried out abductions. These organizations have undergone repeated restructuring, and purges of senior officials have also taken place. As a result, it is clear that records have been lost and that there are numerous abduction victims whom the North Korean authorities are unable to account for. The Japanese government, too, does not have a complete count of all abduction victims. Incidentally, abduction victim Hitomi Soga was initially abducted by an agency of the Workers’ Party, but after she married Charles Jenkins, a deserter from the U.S. Army, responsibility for her case was transferred to the Korean People’s Army. It is said that the Korean People’s Army official in charge of Hitomi Soga was unaware that she was an abduction victim prior to her return to Japan in October 2002.
It is impossible to bring back all Japanese abduction victims while leaving North Korea’s current dictatorial regime unchanged. Of course, as fellow Japanese citizens, we bear the responsibility to rescue all Japanese abduction victims, as well as all foreign abduction victims who were abducted within Japan. However, to achieve this, North Korea must transform from its current closed, dictatorial state into a democratic nation open to the world. We must ensure that ethnic Koreans residing in Japan who have gone to North Korea, as well as their Japanese family members, can freely travel back and forth between Japan and North Korea; that abduction victims from South Korea and all other countries can return to their respective families; and that the general public in North Korea can lead happy lives without fear of political oppression or suffering from hunger.
We will continue our efforts in cooperation with like-minded people around the world to make this a reality.
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This newsletter provides information from COMJAN (Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea) on the abduction issue and the human rights situation in North Korea. It is sent to those who may be interested in these issues.
If you no longer wish to receive these messages, please feel free to contact me at kumoha551@mac.com, and I will remove your email address from our mailing list.
ARAKI, Kazuhiro
Chairman, COMJAN（Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Relatedto North Korea）
Room 301, 2-3-8 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0004, Japan
email:kumoha551@mac.com Fax:81-3-5684-5059
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