Mr. Teruaki Masumoto at the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament
29 May 2012
On 29 May, Mr. Teruaki MASUMOTO, the Secretary-General of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, made his presentation at Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament. His full statement is below.**********
First, as a Japanese citizen, I would like to thank the European Governments, and the European people for the assistance you provided Japan in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in last year. We are very grateful.
I also appreciate the opportunity to testify here today about Japanese victims kidnapped by North Korea.
My name is Teruaki Masumoto. In August 1978 my sister, Rumiko Masumoto, was forcibly abducted from Japanese soil by North Korean spies. There are many other families like mine. Together we have formed the Committee for Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea. I am now the secretary general of that association. Our goal— is to get our loved ones back from North Korea.
North Korea planted spies in order to convert South Korea to communism. But when that didn’t work, they began to think about kidnapping foreigners to use as spies to overthrow the South Korean government. North Korea kidnapped over a hundred Japanese citizens. This state-sponsored crime had two purposes: one, to train spies to pass as Japanese citizens; and two, to provide a marriage partner for an American who defected to North Korea.
We know now that Kim Hyon Hee, the former North Korean agent involved in the Korean Air bombing, was trained in Japanese language and culture by abductee Yaeko Taguchi. We also have eye-witness testimony that Megumi Yokota, Shuichi Ichikawa, and others were working as Japanese-language teachers at Kim Jong Il Political Military University in Pyongyang.
We know that it was decided that Hitomi Soga, one of the abductees who has returned to Japan, would be the wife of American army deserter Charles Jenkins. Other abductees faced the same fate: Anocha Panjoy, from Thailand; Doina Bumbea from Romania; and Siham Shraiteh from Lebanon were all married off to American army deserters.
These are not the only two reasons for the abductions, however. At present, abductees are made to work in medicine or in counterfeiting. Abductees with chemical or biological backgrounds are used in weapons production.
What about abductees from other countries? There were eighty-two thousand nine hundred twenty nine South Korean abductees during the Korean War; currently there are about five hundred.
We also know that there are four abductees from Lebanon, one from Thailand, one from Romania, and two from China. In addition, there are four suspected abductees from Malaysia, one from Singapore, three from France, three from Italy, two from the Netherlands, and one from Jordan.
The Thai government now knows about Anocha Panjoy, and has pressed the North Korean government for answers through its embassy. But North Korea refuses to even admit she exists. Its behavior toward the Romanian government is the same.
By kidnapping innocent civilians who were not involved in any political activities, North Korea has harmed not only the victims, but also their families and their countries.
Recently, we received information about a young American who disappeared in China’s Yunnan province on August 14, 2004. His parents and brother came to Tokyo to meet us, and as we learned more about him we felt his disappearance is very suspicious, too.
I have visited South Korea, Thailand, Macau, and Romania. I have met with the families of the abductees, and we have shared our pain and our grief. We have also shared our determination to get our loved ones back home. But except for Japan and South Korea, these families have no organized structure, no means of helping their family members. So when I raise my voice on behalf of the abductees, I do so on behalf of all of them—not just those from Japan.
We are determined to work together—all the families of those abducted by North Korea. To that end, three years ago we formed the International Alliance for the Abduction Issue. Our goal is to free all those abducted by North Korea, and we will continue to make our voices heard at the international level.
Our goal is the rescue all the victims abducted by North Korea, and for that we need the help and cooperation of the European Governments. We hope we can count on you.
Thank you.
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