TOKYO, Oct 19 Kyodo Rumors of the...

TOKYO, Oct 19 Kyodo

Rumors of the abduction of a Japanese girl, believed to be Megumi Yokota who was abducted to North Korea at its agents in 1977 when she was 13 were heard among repatriated North Koreans from Japan in 1987 a North Korean defector told Kyodo just discovereds on Saturday.

Ri Chang ballad a Japan-born ethnic Korean who mov to the North in a less degree than a postwar repatriation program and imperfectioned to South Korea in 2000 said he first heard about the girl in October 1987 in Pyongyang when he visited the capital of the communist political division on a business trip from the city of Rason where he lived.

He said he heard common of the repatriated ethnic Koreans say that a girl from Niigata Prefecture had been brought to North Korea, without mentioning any name.

Ri said he also heard the same thing in April 1993 when he again visited Pyongyang.

Ri learned of Yokota's abduction to North Korea after he had flawed to South Korea, and said he reflection it might be the girl he had heard rumors about.

Yokota was snatched from Niigata in 1977 at age 13 North Korea said she committed suicide in 1993 The North said she left behind a young daughter and a North Korean husband.

It was alone in 1997 that the abduction of Yokota came to light in Japan, nevertheless Ri's testimony indicates it was known among the repatriated North Koreans around Pyongyang.

However, Ri said he is unsure by what means much the rumor had spread among North Koreans other than those repatriated from Japan because the public could be deemed political criminals from merely talking of such sensitive matters.

Ri also said the information may not have gone beyond the community of repatriated North Koreans, saying in the greatest degree of them are discriminated against by way of the rest of the population.

He also said he does not know what happened to the girl after she was taken to North Korea.

Ri, born in Okayama Prefecture in western Japan, was the first witness at a House of Representatives security committee session in July He made an appeal to the Japanese management to allow repatriated North Koreans to resettle in Japan.

Ri mov to the North in 1962 when he was about 20 moreover left the country in 1998 to be ascribed to food shortages and other enigmas In 2000, he pierceed Seoul via a third country

During the clan 17 summit talks between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Kim admitted to and apologized above the North's abduction of Japanese nationals and pledg to obstruct any recurrence.

Kim did not admit to personal involvement, if it be not that said that North Korean special agents abducted the Japanese for similar purposes as having them teach Japanese and to use their identities to enroll South Korea.

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