Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/15/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-308600

TITLE=JAPAN/ABDUCTEES (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=STEVE HERMAN

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Wednesday marks one year since five Japanese -

abducted by North Korean agents - returned to Japan.

While they have started new lives, they are frustrated that family members still in North Korea have not been able to join them. Steve Herman reports from Tokyo.

TEXT: Since their return a year ago, the kidnapped victims' hope for a reunion with loved ones has dwindled. Pyongyang has indicated it will not allow relatives of the

returnees to leave until Japan sends the kidnap

victims back to North Korea.

Caught between a standoff between the two countries, Ms. Hitomi Soga expresses frustration as

she marked one-year separated from her American

husband and two daughters in North Korea.

///SOGA ACT, IN JAPANESE, EST. & FADE UNDER///

She says the Japanese government has repeatedly told

her to be patient but she does not whom to trust any

more. She says at times she has felt abandoned. Ms.

Soga is calling on the government to take all steps to

make sure she can be re-united with her family.

Ms. Yukiko Hasuike, who along with her husband, was

abducted in 1978, also expresses concern about the

stalemate in discussions between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

///HASUKIE ACT, IN JAPANESE, EST. & FADE UNDER///

She says she is constantly thinking of her children

and dreams of the day they will come to Japan so the

family can go shopping together.

Another returnee, Ms. Fukie Chimura says she is

worried that the abduction issue is being sidelined by

the desire to resolve North Korea's suspected nuclear

weapons program.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday said he

wants to make sure that relatives of the abductees can

come to Japan.

At a bilateral summit meeting held in Pyongyang last

September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told Mr.

Koizumi that North Korean agents carried out the

kidnappings and he apologized to the Japanese prime

minister. But since the return of the five abductees,

North Korea has said it considers the matter resolved.

North Korea has admitted abducting 13 Japanese in the

1970s and 1980s to help train spies. The communist

state has said, eight of them have since died but has

not offered convincing proof for relatives. Some

support groups contend that North Korea probably

abducted dozens of Japanese.

Diplomats say there have been intermittent contacts

about the matter between Tokyo and Pyongyang, which

have never had diplomatic relations.

Angered by the lack of progress in reuniting the

Families, some here are calling for the Japanese

government to impose economic sanctions against North

Korea. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/SH/MEM