Abductees' kin concerned over whether Obama will back abduction issue

TOKYO, Nov. 5 Kyodo - The families of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea expressed concern Wednesday over whether Barack Obama, winner of the U.S. presidential election, would support Japan's quest to get their missing kin back from the reclusive nation.

''We will continue to demand that the United States not lift its remaining
sanctions'' against North Korea, said Shigeo Iizuka, elder brother of abductee
Yaeko Taguchi and head of a group of families of Japanese victims of abduction
in the 1970s and 1980s.
''We have been talking with President (George W.) Bush until now, so I am
worried about how much support Japan will receive after it (U.S. leadership)
changes to Mr. Obama of the Democratic Party,'' Iizuka, 70, told a press
conference in Tokyo.
The Republican Bush administration has been sympathetic on the abduction issue,
having invited the family of Japanese victim Megumi Yokota to the White House
in 2006, but disappointed some abductees' family members by taking North Korea
off the U.S. blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism in October.
Iizuka expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will ''tackle
seriously'' the problem of North Korea's abductions as a human rights issue.
But he also emphasized the importance of Japan taking its own approach in
trying to resolve the matter, saying, ''We should not be too dependent on other
countries' support.''
Obama trounced Republican John McCain in Tuesday's election to become the first
African-American to be chosen as president of the United States.