KOFU, Japan: It has been more than 30 years since the identical twin sister of Japanese teacher Misa Morimoto vanished, believed to have been abducted by North Korea.
Hopes for her return have often surged and ebbed since, tracing the ups and downs of ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
Now, Morimoto, 54, is cautiously optimistic that a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 could bring news of the sister who resembled her so much that few could tell them apart.
In 2002, North Korea admitted it had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to train them as spies. Five returned to Japan, though Tokyo suspects hundreds more may have been taken.
In 2014, Pyongyang promised new information about the Japanese it had kidnapped, but never made good on the pledge, shattering many relatives’ hopes.
“Four years ago, we all expected everybody would soon come home, and we ended up despairing,” Morimoto told Reuters at the home where she grew up with her sister Miho in the central Japanese city of Kofu.
“So this time, rather than hoping a lot, we’ll just watch to see what happens.”
Miho, who had ambitions of going to university, disappeared on June 4, 1984 after setting out for a library. Her motorbike was found at a nearby train station the next day and her handbag discovered on an isolated beach, 360 km (220 miles) away, near where two abductees were seized.
Morimoto has met other families who believed their loved ones might be in North Korea. She has been struck by the similar aspects of their accounts, such as the remote beach, and silent telephone calls to family homes cut off shortly after being answered. On some, Miho’s family had heard muffled sobs.
The agenda for the Trump-Kim summit is not known, although the US president has said he hopes to start negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
But Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged Trump to keep the abductee issue, a key plank of the premier’s political program, central to the talks. Trump has met the families of abductees several times and brought up the issue in speeches.
US pressure could make a difference, Morimoto said, citing three US citizens held in North Korea who were freed in May.
“To be honest, when Trump became president, I was worried what might happen. But he is a very clear, straightforward person, so his message is probably very easy for North Korea to understand.”
For years, Morimoto has awaited word of her sister. A special education teacher with three grown children, she has just became a grandmother.
“The stress can be very bad,” she said. “But if I give up, if I lose hope, everything will be over. I have to hold on to hope no matter what happens.”
Japanese woman hopes Trump-Kim summit will bring news of missing twin
Japanese woman hopes Trump-Kim summit will bring news of missing twin
- In 2014, Pyongyang promised new information about the Japanese it had kidnapped, but never made good on the pledge
- US pressure could make a difference, Morimoto said, citing three US citizens held in North Korea who were freed in May
North Korean leader Kim watches cruise missile tests with his daughter
- KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast
SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.
Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.
Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.
The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.
KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy’s strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.
Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.
Tuesday’s missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.
