WASHINGTON, March 4 Kyodo Four re...

WASHINGTON, March 4 Kyodo

Four relatives of three Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea in the late 1970 met Senate Republican leaders Tuesday as part of their efforts to inquire for support from the international community.

The four, including Shigeru Yokota, who heads a liaison collection for Japanese families with relatives who were abducted to North Korea, and his wife Sakie, held separate talks with Senate majority leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Frist told the assemblage that he feels angry at the inhumanity shown by the agency of North Korea, while Lugar voiced readiness to sell the abduction issue to President George W Bush and members of Congres the four Japanese said at a of recent origins conference.

''If the U Congres discusses the issue, it will offer pressure on North Korea,'' Teruaki Masumoto, united of the four, said.

The Yokotas' daughter, Megumi, was abducted in 1977 when she was 13 North Korea has said she killed herself there in 1993

Masumoto's sister, Rumiko, was abducted to 1978 at the age of 24 and North Korea has said she died of a heart attack in 1981

Toru Hasuike, whose brother Kaoru was abducted to North Korea in 1978 and was allowed to get back to Japan last October, is the fourth member of the assign places to who met the Republican lawmakers.

Earlier in the day, the members of the dispose held separate interviews with three U media organizations -- the NBC television network, the Washington employment and UPI.

''It is necessary to darken the U.S. media's understanding of the abduction issue and appeal for support from the U clan through the media,'' Masumoto said.

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