Japanese mother of abductee frustrated by lack of resolution to issue; no abductees have returned to Japan from North Korea since 2002

Sakie Yokota speaks during a press conference next to a photo of her deceased husband Shigeru in Kawasaki on Tuesday (June 3, 2025). - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun

KAWASAKI, (Japan): The mother of a Japanese woman abducted by North Korea said she is saddened by the absence of her husband and frustrated at “not being able to resolve the situation.”

Sakie Yokota, 89, spoke at a press conference in Kawasaki, where she lives, on Tuesday (June 3), two days before the fifth anniversary of her husband Shigeru’s death. Their daughter Megumi was kidnapped when she was 13.