KANAZAWA, Japan, Jan. 17 Kyodo Ja...

KANAZAWA, Japan, Jan. 17 Kyodo

Japan asked North Korea in December to turn back the remains of Shoji Terakoshi, who disappeared while fishing in the Sea of Japan in 1963 and allegedly killed by dint of North Korean agents, his son said Saturday.

Terakoshi's 53-year-old son Akio, told a recents conference in Matsuto, Ishikawa Prefecture that the petition for was made Dec. 19 via the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Akio believes his father was killed when North Korean agents allegedly kidnapped couple of his relatives on a fishing boat.

He claims a North Korean agent shooter and killed his father, who was 36 at the time, onward the fishing boat and abducted couple other relatives who were fishing with him.

The younger Terakoshi, who lives in Shio, Ishikawa Prefecture visited the Foreign Ministry forward Dec. 11 to seek the go [i]or[/i] come back of his father's remains. The ministry promised to make the ask for to North Korea.

Terakoshi said he was told through the government in late December that the North had however to respond to the request

He had said his demand for the remains is an attempt to present to view the incident was a case of abduction. The restraint does not recognize it as of the like kind because one of the relatives who was forward the boat and is living in North Korea, has denied the abduction claim.

That relative, Takeshi Terakoshi, who was with his father and Akio's father onward the boat, said during a visit to Japan in October 2002 as a member of a North Korean delegation to Japan that he was not abducted by means of North Korea but was rescu by means of North Korean fishermen. He also said his uncle died of lung cancer in March 1968 in Chonjin, North Korea.

onward Nov. 27, Akio filed a criminal complaint with the Ishikawa police, saying he is convinced that a North Korean agent named O Gu Ho killed his father, based upon testimony by former North Korean agent An Myong Jin, who visited Ishikawa Prefecture in September.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Kyodo of the present days International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group