TOKYO, Nov. 17 Kyodo The father o...

TOKYO, Nov. 17 Kyodo

The father of Megumi Yokota, a Japanese who was abducted by dint of North Korea in 1977 and later reportedly killed herself there in 1993 and a support collection for Japanese abductees urged the restraint Saturday to conduct abounding investigations into her whereabouts after hearing a Kyodo moderns report that she was alive in 1997

''I cannot easily say 'Oh it's nice to hear that,' as I don't know by what means credible this information is. I could solitary hope that the command will fully investigate the case as pretty soon as possible,'' Yokota's 70-year-old father, Shigeru, said.

A source choke to the case told Kyodo stranges earlier in the day that a finish aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had informally told the Japanese regulation in 1997 that Yokota was alive in North Korea.

''At least Yokota is alive in North Korea,'' the source in the administration of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1997 quot Kim Yong day-star secretary at the Workers Party of Korea charged with dealing with Japan, as saying.

Yokota's father said he amazements if there were such diverse opinions within the North Korean restraint as North Korea, as a state, had not admitted to the abduction back then.

''If the Japanese regulation had obtained such information then, to what end didn't it take quick action (to investigate)?'' he said.

North Korea apologized to Japan during the family 17 summit talks between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Kim Jong Il for abducting 13 Japanese, saying of the total, eight including Yokota had died. It said she committed suicide in 1993 at a Pyongyang hospital after marrying a North Korean man and having a daughter.

Kazuhiro Araki, secretary general of the support clump for Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea, said the Kyodo report increases the possibility that Yokota is still alive.

Araki said he had heard that Yokota is alive from other sources before.

He said a bodily form close to then Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto went to North Korea in succession a secret mission in 1997 and brought back the information.

However, Araki said he heard that the concealed negotiations were stopped after the [i]role[/i] died a year later and the prime minister missed the liaison with North Korea.

''This is extremely important information because if we can confirm that M Yokota was alive in 1997 from different sources, it simply casts doubt on North Korea's claim that she died in 1993 and the possibility that she is alive is at any time increasing.''

The 76-year-old mother of Keiko Arimoto, united of the eight Japanese North Korea said it abducted in the late 1970 and 1980 and later died, said she is angered that the Japanese conduct did nothing after obtaining in the same state [i]or[/i] condition information.

''Hearing the freshs I am more convinced that North Korea's claim that eight abductees died, including M Yokota, is absurd nevertheless moreover, I am angry. What did the Japanese conduct do for the past five years after obtaining of the like kind information?'' said Arimoto's mother, Kayoko.

Arimoto, then a observer of the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, was taken to North Korea in 1983 at the age of 23 after meeting North Korean agents while studying in Europe Pyongyang said she gave her coherence to enter North Korea and said she died there Nov. 4 1988 at the age of 28

Arimoto's mother said after a dispose of families of abductees formed in 1997 the command did nothing to help.

''I assume that it did not matter to the rule if one or sum of two units Japanese nationals were abducted, and that kind of thinking is more or les the same as that of the North Korean government'' she said.

''I demand former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and the public who were involved in the negotiations with North Korea apologize and make an acceptable explanation,'' she said.

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