A South Korean man allegedly abducted decades ago by the North met his mother yesterday in a reunion at a North Korean resort that could shed light on the fate of a Japanese also kidnapped by the communist state.
Kim Young-nam disappeared from a beach on South Korea's southwest coast in 1978 when he was 16 and was long believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents. He met his mother Choi Gye-wol, 78, at the North's Diamond Mountain resort amid other reunions of Koreans divided between the North and South, according to pool reports.
The meeting with Kim, proposed by North Korea, is drawing scrutiny attention in South Korea and Japan as it could shed light on the issue of whether Megumi Yokota, a Japanese abductee Kim Young-nam is dead, as claimed by the North.
PHOTO: AP
"I am very happy to see you are so healthy," Kim told his mother sitting in a wheel chair as the two hugged each other crying, according to television footage. "Stop crying, why do you cry on such a happy day?"
The mother responded, saying "You look so much like how you were."
Accompanying Kim was his daughter, Kim Hae Kyong, 18, whom he is believed to have fathered with the Japanese abductee, Megumi Yokota. Also present were Kim's new wife and their seven-year-old son.
Kim didn't say anything about his ex-wife, Yokota, or how he ended up in North Korea. YTN said he is scheduled to hold a press conference today.
In 2002, North Korea admitted abducting 13 Japanese citizens over the years to help train spies in Japanese language and culture, and allowed five to return home. Pyongyang said the other eight, including Yokota, were dead.
But Many Japanese believe Yokota is still alive, and the abductee issue continues to complicate relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
North Korea has claimed that Megumi's husband is a North Korean man, named Kim Chol-jun. But that claim was discredited, as South Korean and Japanese DNA tests showed that there is a high possibility that Yokota's daughter and Kim's mother in South Korea have a blood relationship.
Japanese officials took the samples from the daughter during a visit to North Korea in 2002 and later gave them to the South.
In a surprising announcement early this month, the North said it had found Kim and would allow him to meet South Korean relatives during reunions of families separated between the Koreas at Diamond Mountain. Pyongyang didn't elaborate on how Kim got to the North.
Kim is among nearly 500 South Korean civilians believed to have been kidnapped by the communist state and still held there. North Korea claims they voluntarily defected.
Besides the civilian abductees, South Korea also estimates 542 soldiers from the 1950-1953 Korean War are still alive in North Korea. The North denies holding any prisoners of war.
Thousands of relatives divided by the heavily fortified inter-Korean border have been allowed to hold brief reunions since 2000, when the two Koreas held the first-and-only summit of their leaders and embarked on reconciliation efforts.
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