A Film Divulges North Korea’s Abduction Scheme
Movie Poster for Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story
No Chain, a North Korean human rights NGO based in South Korea, hosted a three-day film screening at Georgetown University from September 26 to 28 as part of its extended film festival. Narrowing in on North Korea’s abduction of foreigners, the film
, screened on September 26, comprehensively portrays North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens from the 1970s to the 1980s.
Abduction exposes North Korea's kidnapping of 13 Japanese citizens from 1977 to 1983, primarily to give North Korean spies training on Japanese language and customs. On November 15, 1977, 13-year-old Megumi Yokota was on her way home from Niigata Prefecture when she disappeared. Distraught, her parents searched everywhere, but to no avail.
More mysterious disappearances followed into the 1980s, and investigations and testimonies of former North Korean agents increasingly pointed to North Korea as the abductor. The film mentions that the Japanese government continued to deny the possibility of North Korea’s involvement until Yokota’s case was publicized in 1997.
The families of the kidnapped victims staged demonstrations demanding that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori take the abduction issue seriously. Succumbing to increasing public demand for investigation, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizummetwith Kim Jong-II on September 17, 2002. Kim admitted to having abducted Japanese citizens and specified that eight had died and only five were alive. However, the Japanese investigation team that entered North Korea found many inconsistencies and insufficient evidence regarding abductees who had allegedly passed away. Through constant negotiations, the five abductees finally returned to Japan in October of 2002.
On November 15, 2004, the Japanese government sent a second investigation team into North Korea. Yokota’s alleged remains were sent her parents, but DNA investigation revealed it to be a mismatch. Although the Japanese government pressed North Korea to be accountable for the abductees whose conditions were still unknown, North Korea showed no genuine will to conduct further inquiries. To this day, the whereabouts or wellbeing of the eight abductees are still unknown, and the grievances of the families continue.
Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story depicts North Korea’s Japanese abduction scheme comprehensively and powerfully, bringing to light a rather lesser known issue. The issue is not limited to Japan. North Korea is suspected of having kidnapped people of other nationalities, with South Koreans constituting by far the greatest number. Many of the abductees’ conditions remain unknown. On September 1, 2016, various news reported that David Sneddon, a 24-year-old American who had gone missing from Yunnan Province in western China in August of 2004, had been kidnapped by North Korea. He allegedly teaches English in Pyongyang and lives with his wife and two children.
Henry Song, the co-director of No Chains and the organizer of the Film Festival, told The Caravel that he chose Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story because it is “by far the best and the only film out there that talks about the Japanese abductee issue; it is not only a well-made film, but it tells the story of this issue so clearly and succinctly, and is such a poignant film.”
Song expressed that he hoped that the film festival “informed [people] about what is going on in North Korea” and prompted them “to be aware and to get involved.” Lynn Lee (SFS’17), who was among the attendees, shared her positive review of the film: “I think this film really shows that the human rights issues in North Korea are not an internal matter and the international community needs to address it on a diplomatic level.”