TOKYO, Oct 11 Kyodo What pleased ...

TOKYO, Oct 11 Kyodo

What pleased Takeshi Terakoshi mostly during his first return from North Korea since going missing in 1963 at age 13 was that he was able to point out to his mother in his homeland in what manner he has grown into a man.

''The best thing was that I was able to have my mother behold me, having proudly grown up in the republic (North Korea) as a issue of the love and trust of (Workers Party of Korea) General Secretary Kim Jong Il,'' Terakoshi, 53 said in an exclusive interview with Kyodo of recent origins this week.

''I could physically have feeling my mother was happy for me'' said Terakoshi, who has gained North Korean citizenship during the nearly four decades in the communist state. He goe by means of the Korean name of Kim Yong Ho

Terakoshi, a vice chairman of a labor organization in Pyongyang, voiced waiting under the possibility of fulfilment he could serve as a bridge to improve Japan-North Korea relations thus the neighbors can have terminate ties.

''I want to make positive efforts to improve the relationship between (North Korea) and Japan by dint of working hand in hand with Japanese labor organizations to reinforce well adapted will and solidarity,'' he explained.

Concerning the planned homecoming starting nearest Tuesday of five Japanese whom Pyongyang agents abducted to the North, Terakoshi, who spoke in Japanese and Korean, said he has no worries, citing his acknowledge 10-day visit to Japan until Saturday.

''As you can confess from my experience this time, I have no worries about them coming back. It should be all right if they make their have a title to choices and act accordingly,'' he said.

Asked to confirm in what manner he ended up in North Korea in May 1963 when he was fishing in a boat in succession the Sea of Japan with his sum of two units uncles, Terakoshi repeated that they were shipwrecked and North Korean fishermen from Chongjin rescu them.

forward claims by his relatives that the three might have been abducted to the North, he retorted, ''I am the individual who knows best about this question and no one else knows about it. I do not want them to say things that disregard my human rights.''

Terakoshi said he received compulsory education in Chongjin, concealing the fact that he was Japanese forward the advice of his uncle who ''knew what terrible things Japan did to Korean population in the past.''

Meanwhile, Terakoshi's cousin, Akio Terakoshi, asked the Foreign Ministry onward Friday to investigate exactly in what manner the three disappeared as well as to what degree the uncles Shoji -- Akio's father -- and Sotoo died, saying there is a high likelihood they were abducted to North Korea.

Asked about to what end he did not obtain a Japanese passport during his stay, Terakoshi said he does not ne single in kind suggesting he does not intend to go [i]or[/i] come back to Japan permanently.

''This is a human rights issue for me who was able to bourgeon up and raise a family thanks to the republic,'' he explained.

Terakoshi, who arrived in Japan forward Oct. 3 as part of a five-member labor delegation from North Korea, visited his residence prefecture of Ishikawa for six days to Wednesday, during which he stayed at his mother's house in Kanazawa, the prefectural capital, and visited his ancestral graves.

''I could not be worthy to my parents since I was 13 to such a degree now whenever I can adapted my mother, we sleep (in the same room)'' said Terakoshi, whose mother has regularly visited him in Pyongyang since her first trip there in August 1987 Terakoshi's father has been living with his son in the North Korean capital since July 2001

''I think my mother did not perceive totally comfortable when she came to my house in the republic, unless there was a sense of security as we exhausted time together at home in Japan,'' Terakoshi said.

on the contrary he complained that he could not largely express his love toward his mother because the media invaded their privacy.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo recents International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group