ID :
46835
Sat, 02/21/2009 - 21:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/46835
The shortlink copeid
Abductee Taguchi's son hoping to learn about her in meeting ex-agent
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TOKYO, Feb. 21 Kyodo -
The son of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese national abducted to North Korea in 1978,
said he wants to find out what his mother was like when he meets Kim Hyon Hui,
a former North Korean agent who is believed to have been taught Japanese by
Taguchi, probably by the end of this month.
''I would like to ask (Kim) about (my mother's) gestures and favorite things so
I can get an image of her,'' Koichi Iizuka, 32, said in a recent interview with
Kyodo News, referring to a meeting that Japan and South Korea are preparing for
Kim and Taguchi's relatives.
On Saturday, sources familiar with the situation said the meeting is expected
to take place in South Korea later this month.
Kim, convicted of the 1987 fatal bombing of a South Korean airliner but later
freed under a presidential pardon, has expressed her wish to meet the
relatives. Kim is currently in South Korea.
Iizuka, who works for an information technology company in Tokyo as an
engineer, said he has no memory of his mother because he was only 1 year old
when she was abducted. Taguchi was kidnapped at the age of 22.
Iizuka was raised by Taguchi's brother, Shigeo Iizuka, 70, and his wife. Iizuka
was 21 when Shigeo told him that he is Taguchi's son.
''I was shocked to be told two facts -- that the couple who raised me are not
my real parents and that my real mother is in North Korea,'' Iizuka said.
Taguchi is among at least a dozen Japanese victims of North Korea's abductions
who remain missing, according to the Japanese government. North Korea admitted
to abducting her but says she died in 1986, a claim Japan disputes.
Iizuka made his name public in 2004 because he thought Pyongyang's announcement
of Taguchi's death was nonsense and he wanted to rescue her.
While working on weekdays, Iizuka spends his weekends addressing the public
about Taguchi and abduction issues.
Iizuka said that in the event of Taguchi's return to Japan, the first word he
will say to her will be ''mother.''
''I believe it is a word that she would want to hear from her grown-up son,''
he said.
Iizuka said he is worried about his uncle due to his hard work and tight
schedule as head of a group of families of Japanese victims of abductions in
the 1970s and 1980s.
==Kyodo
2009-02-21 20:42:51
TOKYO, Feb. 21 Kyodo -
The son of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese national abducted to North Korea in 1978,
said he wants to find out what his mother was like when he meets Kim Hyon Hui,
a former North Korean agent who is believed to have been taught Japanese by
Taguchi, probably by the end of this month.
''I would like to ask (Kim) about (my mother's) gestures and favorite things so
I can get an image of her,'' Koichi Iizuka, 32, said in a recent interview with
Kyodo News, referring to a meeting that Japan and South Korea are preparing for
Kim and Taguchi's relatives.
On Saturday, sources familiar with the situation said the meeting is expected
to take place in South Korea later this month.
Kim, convicted of the 1987 fatal bombing of a South Korean airliner but later
freed under a presidential pardon, has expressed her wish to meet the
relatives. Kim is currently in South Korea.
Iizuka, who works for an information technology company in Tokyo as an
engineer, said he has no memory of his mother because he was only 1 year old
when she was abducted. Taguchi was kidnapped at the age of 22.
Iizuka was raised by Taguchi's brother, Shigeo Iizuka, 70, and his wife. Iizuka
was 21 when Shigeo told him that he is Taguchi's son.
''I was shocked to be told two facts -- that the couple who raised me are not
my real parents and that my real mother is in North Korea,'' Iizuka said.
Taguchi is among at least a dozen Japanese victims of North Korea's abductions
who remain missing, according to the Japanese government. North Korea admitted
to abducting her but says she died in 1986, a claim Japan disputes.
Iizuka made his name public in 2004 because he thought Pyongyang's announcement
of Taguchi's death was nonsense and he wanted to rescue her.
While working on weekdays, Iizuka spends his weekends addressing the public
about Taguchi and abduction issues.
Iizuka said that in the event of Taguchi's return to Japan, the first word he
will say to her will be ''mother.''
''I believe it is a word that she would want to hear from her grown-up son,''
he said.
Iizuka said he is worried about his uncle due to his hard work and tight
schedule as head of a group of families of Japanese victims of abductions in
the 1970s and 1980s.
==Kyodo
2009-02-21 20:42:51
