Following are excerpted versions of the panelists’ presentations:
Katsunobu Kato
Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue
Katsunobu Kato
Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue
We are very grateful that the European Union shares a very strong interest in the issue of human rights infringements by North Korea. The Abe Cabinet’s top priority is to resolve the abduction issue. The Japanese government has officially identified 17 Japanese as abductees, and Japanese police authorities are investigating the cases of more than 800 people in which the possibility of abduction by North Korea cannot be ruled out. These cases are all under investigation. In 2002, Prime Minister Koizumi visited North Korea and Kim Jong Il, then chairman of the National Defense Commission, admitted the abductions of Japanese citizens and apologized. But only five of the abductees have been allowed to return to Japan. NDC Chairman Kim Jong Il explained that people were abducted to teach Japanese to North Korean spies, and help them how to impersonate Japanese people.
Regrettably, for the remaining 12 identified abductees, North Korea has not provided any convincing explanation on their safety or whereabouts. There has not been any sincere response from North Korea about them. For example, North Korea submitted remains of people completely unrelated to these victims. We believe North Korea fears letting these victims come home to Japan would reveal certain inconvenient truths about their spy activities. Kim Hyun Hee, a former North Korean spy, in 1987 impersonated a Japanese person and bombed a Korean Airlines aircraft. Later, Ms Kim said she learned Japanese from Yaeko Taguchi, the mother of Mr Iizuka, who is here today. We believe Ms Taguchi is not being allowed to come home because North Korea fears the truth might be revealed if she returns.
In 2014, the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea submitted the final report of its investigation on the human rights situation in North Korea [which concluded the abductions and enforced disappearances committed by that nation may amount to crimes against humanity]. This report said that in addition to Japanese people, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean, Lebanese and Romanian, French, Italian and Dutch people have been abducted, or may have been abducted. This is truly an international issue that involves European citizens. Obviously, it is the government’s principal responsibility to protect the lives and safety of its citizens and, as such, the Japanese government has been working proactively to rescue these abductees. Japan has consistently demanded that North Korea let these victims return home. However, North Korea has not kept its promise under the bilateral agreement with Japan. It ignored calls for responses and the concerns of the international community regarding the nuclear issue, missile issue, and resolutions submitted at U.N. fora.
So many people are suffering from human rights infringements in North Korea, waiting to be rescued. The three earliest abductions from Japan occurred in 1977. One case was the abduction of Megumi Yokota. She was 13 at the time, so she is 53 now. Megumi’s parents are over 80 years old, but they are still waiting for her to come home. Yaeko Taguchi was 22 when she was abducted in 1978. She had to leave behind her 1-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. She would be 61 now. The victims and their families are aging, and some have died without being reunited with their loved ones. There is no time to waste in saving the remaining abductees.
How can Japan and the EU work together on this? Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission, has the final decision-making power for all policies of North Korea. We believe it is important to make him understand that unless he sincerely addresses the human rights, nuclear and missile issues, North Korea will be completely isolated from the international society. We must use the resolutions adopted in international fora to make North Korea participate in dialogue so we can urge North Korea to take concrete action toward resolving these issues. Based on the principle of dialogue and pressure and action for action, Japan has been exerting strong pressure on North Korea. We have asked them to participate in dialogue to solve various issues.
We are aware that EU parliamentarians have been visiting Pyongyang, although these visits have been interrupted at the moment. There is an existing mechanism of consultation with the North Korean leadership. Many EU countries have diplomatic relations, and seven member states have embassies in Pyongyang. We would like EU members to use these pipelines to urge North Korea to solve the nuclear, missile and human rights problems. I urge the European community to tell SAC Chairman Kim Jong Un the importance of dealing with the human rights, nuclear and missile issues. We must make sure North Korea understands that is the only option it has to realize peace and prosperity with the international community.
The EU and Japan share common values such as democracy and respect for human rights and rule of law. We hope we can have further and stronger cooperation. As a government, we make every effort, but I really urge you, the member countries of the EU and European parliaments, to help with whatever you could on this issue.
Petr Ježek
Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Japan
Member of the European Parliament
Petr Ježek
Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Japan
Member of the European Parliament
The European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Japan was established many years ago. In today’s increasingly difficult, changing world, it’s very encouraging to have allies like Japan, a country which is likeminded to the EU countries, which promotes international law and multilateralism. These relations will hopefully very soon be enhanced by adoption of the mutual agreement on trade and also on strategic partnership. This relationship opens up the opportunity to discuss issues, which are high on the agenda of our Japanese friends.
From the EU point of view, it’s clear that we stand ready to work together with our Japanese friends on this [abduction] issue, primarily to try to bring the abductees home and hold those responsible accountable for these and other crimes. I think there is a willingness on the side of member states to work bilaterally with Japan on this issue. The European Parliament is the right place to conduct such discussion and raise awareness of this issue, but the implementation of foreign and security policies is mainly in the hands of the member states. I will send, together with the two chairmen, a letter to Federica Mogherini, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, and we will inform her officially about this meeting and about the awareness of the European Parliament of this issue. I think this could also formally send a message to the council of the European Union and the member states. On the 5th and 6th of July, there will be an interparliamentary meeting between EU and Japan. And the EP subcommittee on defense will be paying a visit to Japan. I hope we will be able to conclude the bilateral free trade agreement and strategic partnership agreement between EU and Japan. All in all, the relations are quite intensive and more than friendly. Rest assured that the abduction issue will be high on our agenda.
Nirj Deva
Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula
Member of the European Parliament
Nirj Deva
Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula
Member of the European Parliament
It must be hell for what the families of the abductees have been going through since their beloved ones were brutally taken away. We feel very strongly about this. We feel very sad about this. Our hearts and our sympathies are with those families. On top of these human rights challenges, the Korean Peninsula has recently been subject to an escalation in tensions. Let me add, South Korea has been the first country in the region to conclude a wide ranging, free trade agreement with the European Union, which could, in my humble opinion, serve as a good example for the envisaged trade agreement between the EU and Japan.
I’ve heard about the suffering that the people in Japan with regards to the abduction issue with increasing concern.
Minister, as you know, I’m in touch with the North Koreans. I will give you now my assurance that I will raise this matter at the next meeting with them.
Pier Antonio Panzeri
Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights
Member of the European Parliament
Pier Antonio Panzeri
Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights
Member of the European Parliament
I welcome the possibility of addressing such an important issue in today’s meeting. On behalf of the Subcommittee on Human Rights in the European Parliament, I welcome our guests from Japan. I thank them for coming to discuss a very difficult issue, which has caused so much pain, sadness and uncertainty for them and their families. Our subcommittee has paid much attention to the violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We also adopted an urgent resolution on North Korea in January 2016. I’d also like to recall the joint efforts by Japan, the EU and the United Nations in other international fora to address these almost systematic violations of human rights in North Korea. We are ready and willing to work alongside our Japanese friends to bring truth to light and bring justice against these criminals. The United Nations has defined these acts as crimes against humanity. In March 2017, independent U.N. experts stressed that we should think about setting up an ad hoc international tribunal, apart from also addressing the International Criminal Court. The special envoy on human rights for North Korea has proposed a two-track strategy to make it possible for the international community to work together on questions of human rights, where possible with North Korea, but at the same time ensuring North Korea accepts responsibility for the violations committed. The Japanese victims and their families should receive the truth about what has happened, or be reunited. Also, there has been condemnation of the recent nuclear tests, which represent a serious threat to global security and security in the region. We are aware this means a specific commitment with the North Korean leadership is very difficult. We are here today to express our solidarity and work in very specific terms to make sure that truth is indeed established.
Takuya Yokota
Secretary-General of Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
Takuya Yokota
Secretary-General of Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
My sister, Megumi Yokota, was abducted at the age of 13 by North Korean agents on her way back from junior high school. At home, Megumi was always cheerful and smiling, and at school she was very popular among her friends. Her sudden disappearance completely changed our family life, which became heavyhearted and void of conversation. My family used to be so happy. How terrified she must have been when she was captured, and what depths of despair was she plunged into when locked in the spy ship and she realized that no matter how much she cried or screamed or called for help, no help was coming. It has been nearly 40 years since my sister was abducted. For the first 20 years, our family was deep in sorrow as no clue turned up despite our persistent search.
However, in September 2002, a Japan-North Korea summit was held in Pyongyang, and Kim Jong Il admitted for the first time to the abduction of Japanese nationals. This was tantamount to admitting violating the sovereignty of Japan as well as its territory and territorial waters. However, only five abductees have returned to Japan. North Korea is detaining the rest of them as hostages and using them as tools in diplomatic negotiations. As for my sister, North Korea produced the remains of someone else as evidence of her death in an attempt to force a closure of her case. Admitting their guilt, and then subjecting our family to cruel and inhumane violence like this—these are unforgivable acts of evil, not for me as a family member but as a human being.
North Korea repeatedly conducts ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests, and assassinated Kim Jong Nam, a family member of the leadership. The costs of missile launches and nuclear tests would easily feed the whole of North Korea for a year or even longer. Considering that many in the country are starving and are unsure of their life for that day or the next, North Korean nationals are also living under severe oppression of human rights. North Korea’s abductions are a widespread human rights issue whose victims also are from countries like South Korea, Thailand, Romania and Lebanon. The parents of those abductees are becoming elderly and living each day in the fear of never seeing their loved ones again. There is no freedom of speech or movement in North Korea, and sufficient food or a bright future are beyond their reach. For normal citizens, the terrible situation that’s being described is what’s happening right now. It’s not just a horrible story of the past.
To make a difference, all the countries in the world must unite and urge North Korea to resolve the abduction issue. It is also necessary to drag the dictator Kim Jong Un to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to force him to change his evil ways and punish him. Please help the abductees return home. Please fight with us so the abductees can embrace their parents and siblings again. Thank you for your support.
Koichiro Iizuka
Vice Secretary-General of Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
Koichiro Iizuka
Vice Secretary-General of Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
I do not have any memory of my mother. I don’t remember talking to her at all. Nor do I remember touching her. My mother is Yaeko Taguchi. At 22, she was working and raising me and my sister on her own. Then suddenly, she was abducted by a North Korean agent. All I have now that connects me and my mother is a photograph where I, as a baby, smile back to her. I was forcefully separated from my mother at age 1.
In September 2002, North Korea admitted for the first time that they’d abducted my mother, but said she had died in a traffic accident. I can’t explain how I felt at that time. I just remember I kept on crying. But it wasn’t true. There was no basis for the news that my mother was dead. North Korea insisted my mother had died, but the document supposed to be a death certificate turned out to be a fake. There are many inconsistencies and mistakes in the explanation. The investigation by Japan’s government has exposed them, too. I believe my mother is still alive and waiting to be rescued. Of 17 people confirmed as kidnapped by North Korean agents, five came back to Japan, but North Korea insists eight are dead and four have not entered the country, but the explanation does not often add up as it is marred with unnatural and contradictory points and there is absolutely no proof that someone actually died. For example, North Korea submitted bone fragments it claimed were a part of Megumi Yokota’s remains but when examined by the Japanese government, the DNA was completely different from that of Miss Yokota. Obviously, they did not belong to her. There are abduction victims from Malaysia, Singapore, France and Italy. This is a human rights issue involving the entire world community.
The Japanese government continues to demand North Korea return the abduction victims, believing they are still alive. But the attitude of North Korea remains stubborn and insincere, saying that the abduction issue is already resolved. The government and families of all concerned in Japan, the EU and beyond must go hand in hand to ensure the abductees return to their own countries soon. More than 30 years have passed since the abductions happened. Some family members of the abduction victims have died without meeting their parents, brothers and sisters again. If this is not a tragedy, what is? We need cooperation from you and the whole international community so we can be together again. I ask strongly for your cooperation for resolving this issue.
From the floor
Adam Kosa
Member of the European Parliament
Yesterday, I took part in an event at the Mission of Japan to the European Union [where “Megumi,” a Japanese documentary animation about Megumi Yokota and her family, was shown]. Members of the Japanese delegation have already met me four times, and we sat down together for talks. On all these occasions, Japanese colleagues have consistently repeated this problem, which means this issue was not new to us. The firsthand experience I had yesterday, that’s when I truly realized what a breach of human rights this is. When you come to see the families, when you speak to the people who are affected, it really makes you understand the horrors, the terrible situation. And I think I am not only speaking on my behalf but on behalf of all my colleagues when I say that I would like to help resolve this issue. I read about the meeting between your prime minister and our parliament’s president, and I am very happy to see he is also committed to helping resolve this situation. I am sure that the awareness raising, resolutions and all the work could help push North Korea toward a solution. I don’t think we need to spend too much time determining that this is a clear breach of human rights. I would urge the Japanese government to go and meet, even bilaterally, with all the other EU member states, speak to members of parliament, because they will be shocked when they hear this. I was shocked when I heard it yesterday, although I knew about the problem before. I thank the family members for coming here. You can count on our support.
Closing remarks
Kazuo Kodama
Ambassador of the Mission of Japan to the European Union
Kazuo Kodama
Ambassador of the Mission of Japan to the European Union
Most recently on March 24, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted yet another resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea. In that resolution, the council expressed its strong concern over the lack of progress in resolving the issue of Japanese abductees by North Korean agents, which took place in the 1970s and ’80s. This resolution was adopted unanimously and was submitted together by Japan and the European Union. The resolution strongly calls for North Korea to cooperate and allow access to U.N. investigators, which the DPRK has so far never allowed. We are putting even stronger pressure on North Korea to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions, and also U.N. resolutions to improve the human rights situation in North Korea, including the resolution of the abduction issue.
Tokyo meeting
Tokyo meeting
Michael Kirby, former chair of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Marzuki Darusman, former U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, have been decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star for their achievements in addressing North Korea’s human rights violations, including that nation’s abduction of Japanese nationals. After the bestowment ceremony at the Imperial Palace on May 9, Kirby and Darusman each delivered a commemorative speech at Constitution Memorial Hall in Tokyo. Kirby, a former justice of the High Court of Australia, made a speech titled, “A reflection on abduction and North Korea 2017.” Darusman, who has served as Indonesia’s prosecutor general, gave an address on the topic of, “What is finally to be done with North Korea?”
The following is an excerpt of a speech delivered by Michael Kirby
Michael Kirby
Acting always with professionalism and respecting the independence of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea, the government of Japan has been forthright and unwavering in its commitment to the abductees and their families.
I also acknowledge the families of the Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and the persistent civil society organizations that continue with their commitment to these families. They will never surrender their hopes and prayers for the reunification of their families or, at the very least, a full and proper satisfaction in relation to the disappearance of their loved ones. I witnessed their vigilance during their repeated testimony to the COI, in conferences and in hearings before the Diet committee sessions in Tokyo and at events in Geneva. Their testimony often moved me to tears. But tears are not enough. Voices must be raised. Action must be sustained. Results must be achieved.
Human rights is rarely an easy or a popular issue. None of us should rest content whilst there are victims of human rights abuses anywhere on our planet. From Japan’s suffering over the abductions must grow a national example of rationality, leadership and courage on all the issues of human rights. The abduction issue surely teaches us that lesson.
The mandate of the COI on North Korea has concluded. Yet so “systematic, widespread and gross” were the violations revealed; so shocking the “gravity, scale and nature” of them, that they demand a response. It is the duty of all who know about human right abuses in North Korea to raise the alarm and demand global action. That action will include the immediate cessation of crimes against humanity, provision of accountability for the wrongs done by the leadership in North Korea and the provision of full transparencies for the victims and their families in Japan. The crimes must be stopped. Those that have occurred must be fully accounted for.
It has been disturbing to me to witness the way in which the recent focus of concern for the security situation caused by North Korea’s nuclear and other weapons tests have all but extinguished the attention of the world community to the revelations in the COI report. It is shameful to turn away from the abductions, detentions, starvation and other great crimes. Remarkably, this has not happened in Japan, where the abductions are never forgotten.
All of the wrongs disclosed by the COI in its report are evidence of a country that is now becoming a powder keg. It is danger to itself and its own people. It is a danger to its neighbors, to the region and indeed to the entire planet. The human rights abuses are among the chief explanations for the special dangers to global peace and security. Specifically, a country that can act so callously as to abduct so many victims is a danger to peace. A country that will abduct a schoolchild, Megumi Yokota, will be indifferent to the norms of civilized life and respect for foreign sovereignty, whilst vigorously demanding deference to its own.
Where the country concerned failed to provide redress for the crimes against humanity, the international community must assume that burden. The COI has pointed out that many of the wrongs on the part of North Korea amount to crimes against humanity under international law. The abduction of Japanese nationals amount to crimes against humanity. So, too, is the dreadful suffering thereby inflicted on the abductees’ families.
The pain will not end until North Korea gives full accountability and opens itself up to impartial international scrutiny. There will never be peace and security for the Korean Peninsula and its neighbors while the problems of human rights, including abductions, remain unaddressed. No one can pretend that any of the choices for dealing with the security and human rights problems of North Korea are easy. Doing nothing is unacceptable. It is also contrary to international legal requirements of accountability for crimes against humanity. So sanctions, engagement, increased pressure on North Korea are essential. China is a key to the solution. With China’s veto and special powers under the U.N. Charter come great responsibilities.
The truth must overcome the vestigial iron curtain that, by its own choice, still cuts North Korea off from the world. We must inform its people of what the world thinks and what it expects. How we cope with the present challenge involving North Korea inevitably affects the way our vulnerable planet will deal with the next country that builds a nuclear arsenal, threatens its neighbors and turns away from accountability for crimes against humanity that it caused. Now is the moment of truth.
Out of the present dilemmas, I believe, will eventually come justice and accountability for the victims, including the Japanese abductees. The U.N. commission on North Korea has sharpened the world’s awareness about the wrongs, and no one can say they didn’t know. Humanity’s awareness shines brightly in the gloom of North Korea. It is made sharper and clearer by the report of the United Nations commission, by the nuclear and missile tests, and by the tears of those who have suffered too long without redress.
The following is an excerpt of a speech by Marzuki Darusman.
Marzuki Darusman
In accepting (the decoration), I was prompted by the realization that this award is no less a solemn recognition of the suffering and pain of all Japanese nationals and others and their families who have been victims of acts of abduction committed by members of the state apparatus of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea¬ (DPRK)—a long-standing matter of great urgency that remains unresolved to this day.
The case of the Japanese abductees, steadfastly and sustainably constructed by the Government of Japan—prepared for an eventual legal representation¬—may hold the key to finally crack the façade of feigned innocence that the DPRK has shielded itself with for so long against charges of evident impunity from the international community.
Such writing would presumably be justified too if it can be perceived to serve a wider purpose of bringing to light a larger context: the plight of a whole people chained in bondage under the yoke of an unforgiving regime bent on constantly banishing its own people to the margins, which is momentarily the tragic fate of the people of the DPRK. I say momentarily as the deliverance of subjugated peoples is not, never will nor has been ever a lost cause in history.
What then is the nature of the DPRK? The DPRK is in truth an “army with a state.” This concept, which could be compressed into the idea of an “army state,” seems adequately able to explain the “military first” policy put in place by the regime.
If it is accepted that “an army with a state” formula is wholly descriptive of the DPRK, then the obvious politico-military strategy to adopt would be to undertake to “disarm” the entity.
It is therefore clear that pressure and engagement would have to be complemented with a more robust and targeted strategy aimed at disarming the DPRK in terms of not only its military hardware, which would be unfeasible at this stage, but of its ideological support. Simply put, disarming the DPRK is presented here as an ideological disarming.
How then is a political infrastructure built to conduct a process of ideological disarmament? It is by initially agreeing on a new set of vectors other than the previous set of pressure and engagement, as these have been less effective than expected. This matrix of vectors would include distinguishing between political systems and the people, being alert to how reality can be easily distorted, recognizing that information is easily manipulated, and being aware that governments would misrepresent and demonize what and who they wish.
Resolution of the international question of the abductions of Japanese nationals by the DPRK is rightly placed on its own path, aside from the overall accountability track regarding alleged gross transgressions of crimes against humanity committed by that state as laid out in the COI report.
The case of Japanese abductees meets the elementary legal conditions, based on the existence of preliminary factual proof of acts of crime committed by the DPRK, to hold a hearing. Facts as evidentiary material are available concretely, firstly, in the figure of 17 identifiable Japanese citizens abducted by the DPRK with established tempus and locus delicti; secondly, in the admission of wrongdoing by Mr. Kim Jong-Il at the first Japan-North Korea Summit meeting on September 17, 2002, in Pyongyang of actual abductions carried out by the DPRK; thirdly, in the return of 5 persons of the 17 confirmed abductees on October 15, 2004; and, fourthly, in the recorded discussions of all relevant bilateral talks held between Japan and the DPRK and other fora, both prior and subsequent to the establishment of the preliminary proof, corroborating evidence of culpability of the DPRK of abduction of those identified Japanese nationals.
Furthermore, the nature of abduction as a continuous crime in international law allows for sustained evidence gathering and investigations for all individual cases unconstrained by statutory limitations. Endorsement of the United Nations and wide international support for the pursuit of settlement of the case help to facilitate assessment and determination of the correct strategy and forum for adjudication. Finally, firm domestic support through, among others, the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, and the Japanese people in general provide political legitimacy were the process to become, for any legitimate reason, prolonged.
At this juncture, the abduction of Japanese nationals would seem to be the most substantive case that could spearhead a justified international prosecutorial action against the DPRK, both on a standalone basis as well as part of wider international accountability measures. Meanwhile, the U.N. Human Rights Council in its March 2017 session has adopted the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s “Group of Experts” practicable accountability recommendations. At no time has there been more ideal conditions than now, enabling the international community to move forward with vigor to pursue the perpetrators of all the unaccounted for gross wrongdoings in the DPRK. There will be counteractions to roll back, to be sure, but the point has always been¬—and will be for the near future—to gain a further foothold every time for the next and the next and the next again forward action to be made until, at the end, we get there.
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