OBAMA TALKS ABOUT ABDUCTEES

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

Abductees' kin hail Obama's North stance
Kyodo News

Relatives of people abducted by North Korea praised U.S. President Barack Obama's speech Saturday for delivering a strong, clear message that the matter should be settled.

"He sent a clear message to North Korea and it meant that (Pyongyang) needs to change its approach to international society," said Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter, Megumi, was taken to the reclusive country in 1977 at age 13.

Yokota, who turned 77 on Saturday, and his wife, Sakie, 73, were among invitees to Suntory Hall in Tokyo where Obama touched on the abduction issue in a major address on his first trip to Asia since taking office in January.

"The path for North Korea to realize this future is clear: a return to the six-party talks; upholding previous commitments, including a return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and the full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Obama said.

"And full normalization with its neighbors can only come if Japanese families receive a full accounting of those who have been abducted," he said.

Sakie Yokota said she hopes the North will take Obama's speech seriously.

"It was a strong message and I'm pleased with it," she said. "Obama took up the abduction issue with impressive words that clearly showed his policy. I feel things will start moving in the right direction."

Obama's remarks on North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals came in his first major speech about his foreign policy on Asia, in which he also pledged to strengthen the relationships between the United States and other Asia-Pacific nations.

"We will do so through our close friendship with Japan — which will always be a centerpiece of our efforts in the region," Obama told the audience of about 1,500 people, which included invitees from the political and business circles, as well as traditional Japanese arts.

Among the lawmakers in the audience, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party of Japan described Obama's speech as "impressive."

"I was impressed with the way he made clear that the United States places importance on its ties with the Asia-Pacific region," Kan said of the speech, which also stated that the U.S. commitment to Japan's and Asia's security is "unshakable."

American journalists Laura Ling (right) and Euna Lee reunite with their families after nearly 5 months in North Korea.


Hi folks...

Seeing those two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, walk off that plane last week in California recalled those images of the Japanese abductees returning to Tokyo in 2002 into the loving arms of their families for the first time in 25 years. We couldn't help feel a mixture of happiness and sadness when Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling finally came home. The Yokota family has waited more than 30 years to see Megumi again and many, many attempts to get her back have proved fruitless, much to the frustration of her family and the Japanese people. A film writer contacted us recently to ask us to react to the return of the Americans since he, too, saw the parallels having seen the film when it was first released in 2006. Our interview is below. We only hope that there is some kind of bounce from the Clinton trip to North Korea that may create a new spark in the effort to get answers about Megumi...


FROM WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH BLOG

http://whatwouldtotowatch.com/2009/08/10/wwtw-interview-abduction-filmmaker-chris-sheridan/

WWTW Interview: ‘Abduction’ filmmaker Chris Sheridan
AUGUST 10, 2009
When news broke about two American journalists arrested in North Korea, my first thoughts went to a terrific 2006 documentary recalling the disappearance of an innocent Japanese girl.

“Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story,” by filmmakers Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim, documented how North Korean spies kidnapped a 13-year-old Japanese girl as well as many other citizens.

So, WWTW reached out to Sheridan for his thoughts on the journalists’ release and the impact the news might have for others in a similar situation.

WWTW: What was your first reaction when you heard two American journalists has been arrested by North Korean officials?

CS: I have to say that my first reaction was: “that could’ve been me.”


My second reaction was: “there’s going to be a lot fewer American journalists going to the border now.” I think that was probably a common reaction amongst journalists and filmmakers who’ve been to dicey parts of the world. When you’re dealing with North Korea, you’re dealing with a country that plays by its own rules that change by the minute depending on what mood they’re in. Laura Ling and Euna Lee now understand that.

Many, many journalists and filmmakers have been along the same border and probably crossed in and out of North Korea, sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly. They just happened to be there when North Korea needed some leverage in their ongoing dispute with the United States.

When I read the news, I knew North Korea would use them for some political ends. The North Koreans have been annoyed at the U.S., Japan and South Korea for the past year over the breakdown of talks over the nuclear issue. And they’re probably not too happy about the way the Western media portrays the whole dispute. This was a perfect way for them to jab the media in the eye and tell them to back off. Guarantee you that it worked. Anyone working on a documentary now is going to think twice about sneaking close to the Chinese-North Korean border. The same way that more than a few journalists and filmmakers probably thought twice about venturing outside the green zone in Iraq once people started getting their heads chopped off.

The real question that will need to be answered as a result of this trip is: “what did North Korea get from the Clinton trip?” They rarely do favors for others unless they get something in return. Kim Jong Il knows that when he’s talking to Bill, he’s talking to Hillary so I’m sure there was a laundry list of demands. Would love to know what those are especially since they are most likely related to the issue of whether North Korea continues to develop its nuclear weapons program.

WWTW: The two journalists have been freed …. what are the ramifications of this?

CS: This may, hopefully, shed some light on Kim Jong Il himself. Nothing earth-shattering but it may give policymakers and pundits a chance to see how this man’s brain works. The Clinton trip was a reaffirmation that Mr. Kim does respond very favorably to celebrities. Yes, Bill Clinton is a former U.S. President. But more importantly, he is a rock star. And he’s the kind of rock star Kim Jong IL might like — a playboy with liberal sensibilities and international appeal. This is a fact that has escaped many negotiators in the past. Bill Richardson has been effective but he’s not a heavyweight. Or, at least, the kind of American who garners big headlines and big interest.

Did you see how eager Kim Jong Il was to get a picture with Clinton? I say send Kobe Bryant and Angelina Jolie next time we send an American delegation to Pyongyang. I bet we’d get a lot further on the diplomatic front than in the past.

WWTW: President Clinton says he spoke to Kim Jong Il about other prisoners/hostages from South Korea? Could the trip make progress on that front, or at least give added exposure to these cases?

CS: I have to say that seeing those two Americans get off the plane was a little sad for me. I was happy, of course, that they were home and with their families. But knowing that Bill Clinton, with the help of the US government, did in just a few months what the families of the Japanese abductees and their government have been unable to do for more than 30 years gave me a little pang of sadness.

Megumi’s father said as much in a press conference last week following the Americans’ return. Can you imagine how he felt when he saw how quickly those women were returned while his little girl has been stuck inside North Korea for more than 30 years?

The flip side is, of course, that Mr. Clinton is aware that there are others still in North Korea. I do think this will, at the very least, create a greater awareness in the Clinton family, and, by extension, the State Department, of the Japanese abductions. Hopefully, by hearing Euna Lee and Laura Ling’s stories of struggle and hardship in North Korea, Mr. Clinton will take a more personal interest in those people who are still trapped there.

WWTW: Has the U.S. media done an accurate job reporting on the journalists’ situation? What might reporters have done differently or included to make audiences better understand the situation?

CS: I think it’s pretty hard to report anything fairly when it comes to North Korea. And the North Koreans certainly didn’t help themselves by snatching two journalists, trying them quickly and sentencing them to hard labor. Pretty hard to get a fair hearing in the Western press when you take two of their own. Moreover, North Korea has no spokesperson, no think tanks, no PR firms, no advocacy groups, nothing in the United States so it’s kind of difficult to say that the media does a fair job when reporting on anything related to them. That’s not a defense of North Korea, by the way, just a fact.

I think the American media does the best it can with what it has. I think the only thing I would’ve liked to see more of is an attempt to explain why North Korea does what it does from the inside rather than from the outside.

WWTW: Do you still follow the case of the missing people highlighted in your film, “Abduction?”

CS: Absolutely. We correspond with them all the time just to let them know we’re still thinking about them and praying for them. As I said, when the two journalists were freed, I immediately went online to see if the family of Megumi Yokota had reacted. They had. And rightly so. I really, really hope and wish that the Laura Ling and Euna Lee experience will somehow translate into more support for the Japanese abductees.

I will even take it a step further and say that I hope Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee themselves will translate their personal experience into support for the Japanese families since they now understand what it’s like to be taken from their families and denied a chance to live freely.

ABDUCTION WINS DUPONT AWARD!

Hey all,

ABDUCTION has been honored with one of the highest journalism awards in the US. The prestigious Dupont Award was given to the film. Directors Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim will be presented with the Silver Baton at a ceremony on Thursday, January 22nd at Columbia University in New York. The host of the event will be CBS News anchor Katie Couric. The press release is below. For more info, go to

www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1165270069766/page/1175295284582/JRNSimplePage2.htm


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:


Abi Wright, aew2113@columbia.edu, (212) 854-5047
Clare Oh, clare.oh@columbia.edu, (212) 854-5479

2009 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners Announced
Dallas’ WFAA Wins Highest Honor – First Local Station to Win
Awards Expand to Include Web-only Broadcasts

New York, NY, January 12, 2009—Thirteen winners of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards were announced today by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. WFAA-TV, Dallas, will receive a Gold Baton, the awards’ highest honor, for its continuing commitment to outstanding investigative reporting. It will be the first time a local station has won a Gold Baton in that award’s 20-year history.

Selected by the duPont Jury for excellence in broadcast journalism, the award-winning news programs aired in the United States between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008. The honorees will be presented with duPont Batons at a ceremony on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at Columbia University.

The duPont Jury also announced today that it is expanding the categories of entries for 2008-2009 to include Web-only news broadcasts. The Jury will look for the best example of an original news story using video or audio that is broadcast exclusively on the Web.

This year’s awards will go to news programs featuring a wide range of topics and production styles. They include international reports, such as ABC News Nightline’s gripping combat reporting in eastern Afghanistan; NPR’s breaking news coverage of the earthquake in China; CNN’s global documentation of the rise of religious fundamentalism; and a courageous report from Current TV on Russian neo-Nazis. Other programs to be honored include an illuminating California Newsreel investigation into health disparities in the United States; a prescient radio coproduction from NPR and This American Life about the subprime mortgage crisis; a chilling investigation into corrupt pediatric dental clinics by WJLA-TV, Washington, DC; and a series of reports by WTVT-TV, Tampa, that freed a wrongfully convicted man from prison.

“This remarkable and diverse group of duPont winners is a tribute to the excellent reporting done by journalists in local and national markets across the country. We honor these journalists for telling vital stories that bring critical issues to light,” said Ann Cooper, duPont Jury chair and coordinator of the broadcast department at the Journalism School.

CBS News Anchor and 60 Minutes Correspondent Katie Couric will host the awards ceremony on Thursday, January 22, 2009 in the Rotunda of Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library. Couric will be joined by NBC News Co-Anchor Hoda Kotb and Ira Glass of This American Life in presenting 13 duPont Batons at the evening ceremony.

ABC News’ Bob Woodruff interviewed several of the duPont winners for the PBS special program Telling the Truth: The Best in Broadcast Journalism, premiering January 15. Check local listings. Telling the Truth, an annual feature on public television stations, includes excerpts of the winning duPont programs and explores how these reporters and producers develop leads, pursue their investigations, get access to for critical interviews and sometimes risk their lives to get the story. The program is produced by Will Cohen and Martin Smith of RAINmedia.

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honoring excellence in broadcast journalism were established in 1942 by Jessie Ball duPont in memory of her husband, Alfred I. duPont. With his cousins, Mr. duPont transformed their gunpowder company into the chemical company E.I. duPont de Nemours. He later created a successful financial institution in Florida and was owner of a chain of small-town newspapers in Delaware.

The duPont Awards, administered since 1968 by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, are considered to be the most prestigious broadcast journalism awards and the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, which are also administered at the Journalism School.
Learn more about the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism at www.dupont.org.

Abi Wright
Director, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards,
John Chancellor Award
Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University
212-854-5047
www.journalism.columbia.edu

"ABDUCTION" FEATURED ON CBS NEWS!

On Monday, July 7th, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric featured "ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story". Patty Kim, co-director of the film, was interviewed as part of the story. See it by putting this site in your browser:

www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4239652n

AMERICANS RESPOND TO MEGUMI'S STORY

Hi everyone...just wanted to share the overwhelming response we got from PBS viewers online following the film's airing last week. We've received a number of emails as well. Here are a sampling of the people who took the time to write the PBS website with their comments...All of these comments will be sent to the parents of Megumi Yokota so they can see that Americans really do care about them...


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Truly sad.

Was it just me or was the song during the closing credits really moving? Anyone know name and artist?

Editors note:

Music credits can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/abduction/credits.html

Posted by: calvin on June 24, 2008


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I viewed this great doc at 4 in the am in pensacola, I was finishing my tour in South Korea during the time the little girl was abducted. The North Korean dictators proved to be reckless and evil. They are today an even greater threat to free people.I pray all those who have lost their children may find them. I pray also for the demise of this blood thirsty North Korean leader.

Posted by: glenn rothe on June 23, 2008


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I stayed up late last night to watch this film and barely slept afterwards. I kept thinking of Megumi and her parents and all the other families as well. It was heart wrenching. This is the first time I have even heard of this situation. I can only imagine the terror the abductees felt and the suffering the families endured. My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved. I hope the Japanese Prime Minister will be able to resolve this issue with the North Korean government but it is doubtful given it is led by someone that is not rational. Thank you for bringing this story to the US.

Posted by: Maureen Smith on June 23, 2008


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I was and continue to feel the the loss of Megumi Yokota's entire family. Not only their loss, but also the deppression and completely helpless feelings of the child who so needs the protection and comfort of her mother. And the frustration and dispair of a mother who so badly wants to protect and comfort her baby girl. I am not able to just let this go. How will we know if and when all of our prayers are answered? How will we know when Megumi is returned to her family?

Posted by: Annie Mitchell on June 23, 2008


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Megumi's abduction and her parents' suffering for so many years caused by a North Korean dictator and lack of interest by the politicians was so sad. I doubt if the politicians would sit by if it happened to one of their daughters. Our hearts go out to the Yokota family and we hope they will someday be able to rest with some resolution of their daughter's case

Posted by: christina matchett on June 23, 2008


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This film was incredible. I'm sure I'll be burdened by the emotions elicited from it like I am now for a long time. My one thought is why did the North Koreans feel they needed to abduct ordinary or any citizens like Megumi? For what possible gain? The misery and ire of all decent people who see this is all they gain. Not military mite. That effort will eventually implode on them. I hope the Japanese, US and all free world nations continue to pressure NK till it gives in to their paranoia and start treating people like people.

Posted by: Wes M. on June 23, 2008


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I knew when they started saying some of the abductees had died and when they started giving the cause of their deaths that this was false information. I was outraged but not surprised. I give all my support to Megumi's parents and brothers and the other family members still looking for their loved ones that they can continue until they have the answers. I do not know how the North Korean government got that little girl (Megumi's daughter) to lie on tape with such a straight face. I wonder what torture is still going on there. I strongly urge our government to do whatever it takes to find the truth about where the rest of the abductees are now. Also positive proof that this truth is valid. The families MUST have closure. North Korea MUST pay the price.

Posted by: Colette L Molumby on June 23, 2008


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I am glad to learn Mr and Mrs Yokota's story. It is one that is important to the entire world; all nations should be asking for an explanation.

My hope is that their daughter is returned, and that they meet their granddaughter. I will keep this hope in my heart.

Posted by: Leslie Spires on June 23, 2008


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Watching this film really affected me in many ways. Since my oldest son died, I really relate to the pain of the parents. My heart cries also for the brothers. My other children are hurting badly too, and it has really crushed our family although we know he is with the Lord in Heaven. I wonder what happened to the parents of this girl. Are they still alive? I was touched by the faith of the mother, and pray for the salvation of the father and brothers. It grieves me not to be able to afford a grave marker for my son. I cant imagine how awful not to even be able to bury your child. It is such a tragedy that NK would not care about the families of these who were abducted. I wonder what happened to those survivors who returned to their families. This story should be continued with what has happened since this film was made.

Posted by: Kajern Niemi on June 23, 2008


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I never thought I could experience all emotions in one documentary. Admirably, I watched as walks along the beach were shared by a couple. Unbelievably, I cried uncontrollably at the return of only 5 abductees. What is this thing in humans that causes such aggression to exist? The removal of a human being from its natural environment without any regard to its surroundings. This "rape" of life is an abomination. A government whose spirit is capable of such disregard to another government's culture. Oh, but there is another spirit in this film that is also very evident. To not acknowledge it would be to give ignorance full play of our mental ability to move on. The parent of Megumi have a resilience and tenacity that is unforgetable. Their faith, their heart, their love for their daughter is felt through out the film. I appreciated seeing that family can perservere in spite of. My prayer is that this young lady is safe and her parents be given sweet sleep.

Posted by: Sonya Benoit on June 23, 2008


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This was moving, emotional and strangely uplifting. The heartbreak and the idea of stolen people is beyond belief but being government sanctioned is just plain cruel. I would have never believed it had I not viewed this documentary film. The families were so brave and passionate for so long..bravo for seeking the truth.

Posted by: G. Hill on June 23, 2008


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This story left me speechless...I felt angry, helpless...but overall, completely despondent. I've never watched anything that was so moving...and in the end, I am a bit troubled about Megumi's disappearance being unresolved. There has to be a way to figure it all out...and I sincerely believe she's still alive. Her parents have so much strength and dignity, never giving up, and still not giving up on their daughter. My heart clenched when they showed Megumi's daughter and she said she had no idea her mom was Japanese.

There's also the fact that cannot be ignored; the reality that Megumi has been in North Korea for more than half of her life and even has a daughter (perhaps even a family) of her own? After years of struggling...maybe she learned to accept that seeing the land she called home is not a close possibility

I'm not even sure what else to say...But as I stated before, I still believe she's alive. The North Korean government isn't to be trusted (changing date of death, sending an urn of contaminated 'remains') but also the interview with the Korean gentleman who's heard she's working as a Japanese teacher to Kim Jung Il's son...Megumi's (and the others who had been abducted and claimed to passed away)will perhaps never be resolved...but their families deserve to know the truth...if not have their family members returned, AT LEAST let them know the truth about their child/brother/sister. I hope Megumi's and the other families receive closure soon. 30 years of waiting is long enough.

I'm still absolutely astounded by this Independent Lens.

Posted by: Ma Ri on June 22, 2008


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I was captivated by this show. It is incredibly sad, but also incredibly powerful...the absolute love and devotion of Megumi's parents through these years. Their strength is a witness to everyone who is in the midst of tragedy of any kind. I will pray for those abducted and their families. I will also pray that a full disclosure will occur one day soon.

Posted by: a friend from the Land of Enchantment (USA) on June 22, 2008


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I remember hearing something about North Korea abducting Japanese citizens on the news a few years ago. This film explained much more that a brief news item could never do. I feel so much sympathy for the families of the abductees. I would love to hear that Megumi has contacted her family, since it seems that she may still be alive. Even if she does not return to Japan permenantly, hearing from her would be such a comfort to her parents and brothers. If Megumi does have a husband and daughter, they should know that she was not a willing immigrant to North Korea. I hope that the North Korean Government may finally change and let the complete story be told.

Posted by: jm on June 22, 2008


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Last night I watched "Abduction: The Megumi Yokata Story." I cannot explain my feelings toward it. I cried, I felt anger, I wanted to jump into the television set and hug both of Megumi's parents. I admire Megumi's parent's for being so brave, so determined, and never giving up hope. My heart goes out to all of the families (including Megumi's) who have been told that their loved one is dead. I will never forget this story and it is my sincere wish that the world never forgets!

Posted by: Anonymous on June 20, 2008


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This film left such an impression on me. I had never heard of Megumi's story until now. I was rocked emotionally while viewing the ups and downs of these families. For just that one hour I felt their pain and it is has impacted me in ways that I cannot describe. My God- I don't even want to ponder what it is like to wake up day after day, year after year, season after season and not know where my loved one is. I will pray for their families and let others know about Megumi's story. As the daughter of Cuban exiles I've come to the conclusion that when dealing with such regimes one never knows the whole truth...

Posted by: Melissa Sarmiento on June 20, 2008


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I was completely captured by the poingancy of this documentary. The dignity of Megumi's family and those of the other abductees was stunning. Sadly I doubt that NK will ever fully disclose the information needed to bring resolution to these long suffering families. Providing false human remains in two cases points to their intent to continue the charade. It would be indeed shocking if the 13 highlighted aren't only the tip of the iceberg.

I hope the Japanese government continues to bear pressure on NK until the truth can be given these families. Truth isn't resolution or peace but it could be closure. Elizabeth Turner

Posted by: Elizabeth Turner on June 20, 2008


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Films like this remind us all why independent filmakers and public television is so important - where else would a story like this be told in the United States? Chris Sheridan, Patty Kim and Jane Campion did a masterful job of capturing the awful emotion the families have experienced as they have dealt with their own losses and fought two governments for the truth. Although this story has been well known in Japan for years, it is only now, through this film, that many in the United States will become aware of it. I strongly encourage all viewers to follow up with their representatives and demand that Washington hold Pyongyang to strict accountability on this issue.

Posted by: Joseph Davis on June 20, 2008


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I was profoundly moved by this story and will be troubled by its inability to be resolved. Is Megumi dead or were the remains not hers? Is the investigation still on or has it been closed? How awful that the North Korean govt has gotten away with these horrendous abductions. Cant the US do any more to gain resolution?

Posted by: judi meyers on June 20, 2008


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I was about to go to sleep and I saw this. I stayed up and watched the whole thing. There was a saying that someone in the movie had said was an old Japanese saying. "Spirired Away" as soon as I heard that I immediately thought of the movie that was created by Hayao Miyazaki. This documentary made me realize that a lot of things go on around the world at once. News from other countries aren't really talked about in U.S. newspapers. I really hope that the parents of Megumi attain their goal.

Posted by: K on June 20, 2008


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It's unlikely that my words will reach the eyes or ears of Megumi's parents but I wish to let all know that a personal war is in order. The emotions of Megumi's parents, brothers, loved ones, and the loved ones of all the abducted, have set an inferno in my spirt that may forever motivate me to do what it takes to help. If I should ever be given the opertunity to fight against the communist of north korea and china, the blade of my mind and at my side will forever be honed with the lives of their captors. Send me to find your sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters and I swear with my life I would have them returned with the heads of two communist generals per year they were taken from you. Let the world know your pain reach out to governments other than your own. Never give up.

Posted by: White Fang on June 20, 2008


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Moving, brilliant, emotionally gripping. I wept for the families and the abducted.

Posted by: Jack on June 20, 2008


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'We' might never know the whole truth until Korea's dictatorship changes for the better.

Posted by: Texas Farmer on June 20, 2008


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No, I don't think the abductions will ever be completely resolved. Just as when we were informed that an urn of ashes was returned, my initial thought was to DNA test, then a split second later, I realized that it would probably be impossible to confirm or deny. I was shocked that North Korea wouldn't have tested it themselves--of course, they knew the results would be inconclusive. Heartwrenching story--one of those that will haunt me for years.

I was amused and saddened by the comment of one Japanese person that if this happened in the USA, we would declare war. Sadly, even LOCAL authorities in many towns are reluctant to respond to Missing Persons reports--years later, family members are still looking and the government has filed the case away as a cold file. I actually came to this website to try and find out WHY these people were abducted in the first place, as I missed the first 15 to 20 minutes. Was this addressed? I don't know if I have ever heard of abducting a CHILD unless it was slave or sexual trade, but she was the only child disclosed. So...how do I locate the place where other people have left comments? Thanks!

Posted by: Kim Craigo on June 20, 2008


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I cried for the mother and father and the brothers who have had to carry on with their lives without her and without really knowing what happened to her. I hoped that their daughter would come home with the other abductees and they would get to hold her in their arms once more. It is heartbreaking to see these people fight with such dignity to try and get someone to listen to them and do something. They deserve better than to be lied to. This was a story that needed to be told and I hope that it will help all of the families who have lost someone. The story is so bizarre and nightmarish. It had to be told and I thank you for making this film. Thank you.

Posted by: Jacqueline Mustill on June 20, 2008


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I feel for the Yokota family and I will be praying for them and their daughter. That they hear from her.
I do not believe it will ever be resolved completely.
I believe Megumi choose to stay in North Korean and not leave her daughter and husband. She does not want her daughter to go without a mother as she had to.

I think they had a choice to go home and never look back (or ever say anything or the ones they left behind would be harmed) or be reported dead and stay. In 29 years they are bound to have loved someone as much as their parents and family. It would be hard to just let it go and start all over again. But what about all of the others that were abducted and not given a choice or their governments do not know they were among the abducted ones.

I believe all the Yokota family wants to know their daughter is okay and to hear from her even if they never get to see her again. Just to talk to her and now and then and to know she is okay and to let her know how much she is missed and loved by them. Maybe the ones that did come home will tell them something to comfort them.

They are very strong people and I admire how well they are doing unlike the poor mother who died before seeing her son again. And the brother who is helping by trying everything to get his sister back.


Posted by: Diane Fuller on June 20, 2008


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I cried so much watching Megumi Yokota's story tonight... My thoughts are with her and her family right now, I hope she's alive and she'll soon be reunited with her family. If she's dead as the North Korean government affirms, I hope she's in peace. May the truth comes out, for her sake and her family's. I really hope it will soon all revealed. Resolved? I don't think it can be resolved. All these years and all this pain will never be resolved... It's a really good documentary.

Posted by: Valeria on June 20, 2008


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This story touched our family deeply, such sadness for her parents. What did North Korea hope to gain by this? Why do abuctors get away with this, to take people from all who love them and destroy so many lives. It is so sad we live in a world where our children are not safe. I so wish someday they will find her alive. We will keep them in our prayers.

Posted by: Michelle on June 20, 2008


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Unless the Japanese government continues to put economic pressure on the North Korean government, the last 8 members will never come home. My sense of justice is outraged that North Korea has been allowed to get away with their horrible actions against these people and possibly many more! The United States should also put pressure on North Korea to aid Japan in their push for returning their own citizens to the country.

Posted by: Joanna Shumaker on June 20, 2008


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I do not think that the truth will ever be told as long as North Korea is under the rule of Il.

Posted by: Christina from Reston, VA, USA on June 20, 2008


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probally not..maybe someday this family will finally learn the real truth about there daughter. north but in the hands of the korean govermnt to tell the truth these poor people desearves that much.

Posted by: stacy on June 20, 2008

GREAT REVIEWS IN PHILLY AND HARTFORD!

The lost girl

Truth isn't just stranger than fiction in general - every once in a while, it's even stranger than "Lost."
Certainly polar bears on a tropical island have nothing on tonight's presentation of PBS' "Independent Lens" (10 tonight, Channel 12).
"Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story" begins with the 1977 disappearance of a 13-year-old schoolgirl from a seaside town in Japan and ends in another time and place altogether and in a way that could keep conspiracy theorists going for decades.
And that's assuming the story's even really at an end.
You could Google "Megumi Yokota" and get the whole sorry, surrealistic tale laid out in a tidy entry in Wikipedia, but then you'd miss the suspense built up in this 90-minute documentary by Patty Kim and Chris Sheridan, which painstakingly tracks each of the ripples from Megumi's disappearance to a distant shore.
Did I mention that almost everything in the film is subtitled, so that looking away simply isn't an option?
Or that every time you think you finally know what happened to Megumi, some new possibility is introduced?
Come for the mystery, stay for the characters.
Chief among them: Megumi's parents, Shigeru and Sakie, whose apparently unwavering devotion to finding their daughter takes them, too, to places they probably never have expected to see.




Stunning 'Abduction' On PBS; Penn & Teller Expose 'Bull@#$%!'

Roger Catlin | TV EYE
June 19, 2008
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One thing about the lapse of international reporting is that a story as well-covered in Asia as the 1977 abduction of a 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl that turned into an international incident comes as a complete surprise in the U.S.

The twists and turns in "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story," which serves as season finale for "Independent Lens" (CPTV, 10 p.m.), have been chronicled as they unfolded over 30 years in Japan.

But here, the mystery — and the tenacity of the long-suffering parents — have a stunning effect, such that you never suspect what's going to happen by the end.

MIAMI HERALD REVIEW OF "ABDUCTION"

FROM THIS WEEK'S MIAMI HERALD...

TELEVISION REVIEW
'Evil' describes kidnappers of Japanese

Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story. 10-11:30 p.m. Thursday. WPBT-PBS 2.

Imposing moral judgments on nations is widely dismissed among the chattering classes as jingoist, simplistic and just plain dumb. Remember the contempt heaped on Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union an ''evil empire?'' And when George W. Bush referred to North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' a few years ago, diplomats and academics grew downright faint. Evil is ''too heavy and radioactive a word,'' complained an official at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington in a typical criticism.

Let him make that argument to Sakie Yokota, whose 13-year-old daughter was kidnapped by North Korean spies while walking home from school in Niigata, Japan, 31 years ago and still hasn't returned. Says Yokota, whose ability to discern right from wrong is unencumbered by the sophisticated sensibilities of diplomacy: ``North Korea is an evil place.''

UNKNOWN NUMBER?

It is almost inconceivable that anyone who watches Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, a documentary airing Thursday as part of the PBS series Independent Lens, will disagree. Megumi is one of 13 ordinary citizens known to have been kidnapped by the North Korean security service to help teach the country's spies how to pass for Japanese. And the key word is known. As Abduction reports, the real number may be in the hundreds -- and that doesn't include the possibility that North Korean agents may have abducted dozens of other Asians they might be able to convincingly imitate.

The consequences have been terrible not only for the victims (of the 13 Japanese North Korea has admitted to kidnapping, eight have never been seen again), but for countless others who have died in North Korean terrorist attacks. A North Korean spy pretending to be Japanese smuggled a bomb on a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people in 1987; after her capture, she confessed she learned Japanese language and customs from a kidnap victim held in a Pyongyan compound.

Filmmakers Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim worked six years on Abduction, and their time was well spent. They've accumulated a wealth of footage -- both archival and their own -- that allows them to tell the story virtually without narration. It also hammers home just how long the Yokotas' search for Megumi has dragged on. In televised pleas for the return of her daughter in the first days after the kidnapping, Mrs. Yokota's hair is dark, her skin smooth. In interviews filmed last year, she's gray and wrinkled, the toll of not only time but of heartbreak.

Some of the latter has come at the hands of Japan's own government, which has always seemed more interested in diplomatic rapprochement with North Korea than the fate of its kidnapped citizens. Megumi's disappearance was first assumed to have been the work of a common criminal, if a psychopath who preys on children can be reasonably termed common. But within two years, some Japanese journalists and security officials had tentatively linked a string of unsolved abductions to North Korea.

BOMBER CONFESSION

It was the capture of the terrorist airline-bomber in 1987 and her subsequent confession that confirmed the North Koreans were snatching Japanese and forcing them to work in spy schools. But it took the Japanese government another 10 years to admit all it knew, and another five after that to demand an accounting from Pyongyang. Government indifference for their dilemma eventually reduced the Yokotas and families of other hostages to standing outside the offices of the ruling LDP party and screaming obscenities through bullhorns.

Abduction's scenes of the families are simply crushing. One mother lapses into a torpor of grief, unable to speak except to mumble ''My son, my son.'' Mrs. Yokota converts to Christianity and finds solace in the Biblical tribulations of Job: ''The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.'' But her husband Shigeru is scornful. ''If there's a God,'' he argues bitterly, ''then he'd give Megumi back to us.'' He, too, sounds like a man who understands the definition of evil.