Megumi Yokota

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US President George W. Bush at a meeting with Sakie Yokota, Megumi's mother, and her son and a family of North Korean refugees in April 2006.

Megumi Yokota ( Japanese 横 田 め ぐ み , Yokota Megumi ; * October 15, 1964 ; † March 13, 1994 ?) Was abducted to North Korea on November 15, 1977 at the age of 13 .

kidnapping

In the 1970s and early 1980s, 13 citizens of Japan were abducted by North Korean agents and taken to North Korea . They were supposed to help train North Korean spies there. Allegedly Sin Gwang-su was responsible for this.

Yokota is said to have married Kim Chol Jun in 1986, who is identified as the South Korean Kim Young-nam, who was also kidnapped. The couple had a daughter in 1987. DNA samples from this daughter confirmed the parenthood of Megumi Yokota and Young-nam in 2006.

In 2002, North Korea admitted the kidnapping and claimed that Yokota committed suicide on March 13, 1994. Initially, only an old photograph and the badminton racket she had with her at the time of her abduction were presented as proof of her identity. In November 2002, her suspected cremated remains were handed over to the Japanese government and subjected to a DNA test, which returned negative. The political dispute over the test result was intensified by the scientific criticism of the journal Nature of the Japanese government because of the DNA analysis methods used.

Media coverage

In addition to numerous television, radio and newspaper reports, several films were also published about the case:

  • Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story. (Documentary, USA 2006)
  • Megumi. (Docudrama, Netherlands / Japan 2007)
  • Megumi. ( Manga 2004/2005, web anime , Japan 2008)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Yokota's husband says North 'saved' him, wife was suicide. (No longer available online.) In: The Japan Times. June 30, 2006, formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 17, 2008 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / search.japantimes.co.jp
  2. ↑ Teen confirmed as daughter of Megumi Yokota. In: The Japan Times. October 25, 2002, accessed July 17, 2008 .
  3. ↑ November 15, 1977: Kidnapping of a Girl ( Memento from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Unmesh Kher: Accounted for, at Last. In: Time. September 24, 2002, accessed July 21, 2008 .
  5. ^ Remains not those of Yokota. December 9, 2004, accessed July 17, 2008 .
  6. ^ Donald MacIntyre: Bones of Contention. In: Time. March 28, 2005, accessed July 21, 2008 .
  7. ↑ Website for the film Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story ( Memento from February 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://www.mirjamvanveelen.com/
  9. ↑ Download page for the Japanese government anime (Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, Spanish, German, Italian)
personal data
SURNAME Yokota, Megumi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 横 田 め ぐ み (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese kidnap victim by North Korea
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1964
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1994
Place of death North Korea