Are the S. Korean and 'Yokota's husband' one and the same?
Toshimitsu Ishima and Yuichiro Nakamura
The Daily Yomiuri
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Though government DNA tests identified South Korean abductee Kim Young Nam as the father of Megumi Yokota's daughter--making it highly likely the two abductees to North Korea were husband and wife--the question remains over whether Kim and the man North Korea claims to have been Yokota's husband, Kim Chol Jun, are one and the same.
Kim Chol Jun's name initially came up during a summit meeting between Japan and North Korea in September 2002. In a November 2004 working-level meeting in Pyongyang, Japanese officials demanded their North Korean counterparts hand over blood samples and hair to be used in a DNA test to determine paternity of Yokota's 18-year-old daughter, Kim Hye Gyong.
The officials refused to provide the samples and would not allow Kim Chol Jun to be photographed, saying his identity was sensitive, as he belonged to an "intelligence agency."
A few of the Japanese delegates, however, did get a chance to meet the man, and the Japanese government was able to create a composite picture of him based on the testimony of Kaoru Hasuike, a former abductee who knew Yokota's husband during his time in North Korea.
None of these efforts, though, have provided conclusive evidence as to whether Kim Chol Jun was Kim Young Nam, who was abducted from a South Korean island in August 1978 at the age of 16.
Choi Son Yong, who heads the South Korean association of abductees' families, says he had been told by a North Korean official that Kim Chol Jun--the man who the Japanese officials met--was not Kim Young Nam.
Apr 13, 2006
Toshimitsu Ishima and Yuichiro Nakamura
The Daily Yomiuri
_____________
Though government DNA tests identified South Korean abductee Kim Young Nam as the father of Megumi Yokota's daughter--making it highly likely the two abductees to North Korea were husband and wife--the question remains over whether Kim and the man North Korea claims to have been Yokota's husband, Kim Chol Jun, are one and the same.
Kim Chol Jun's name initially came up during a summit meeting between Japan and North Korea in September 2002. In a November 2004 working-level meeting in Pyongyang, Japanese officials demanded their North Korean counterparts hand over blood samples and hair to be used in a DNA test to determine paternity of Yokota's 18-year-old daughter, Kim Hye Gyong.
The officials refused to provide the samples and would not allow Kim Chol Jun to be photographed, saying his identity was sensitive, as he belonged to an "intelligence agency."
A few of the Japanese delegates, however, did get a chance to meet the man, and the Japanese government was able to create a composite picture of him based on the testimony of Kaoru Hasuike, a former abductee who knew Yokota's husband during his time in North Korea.
None of these efforts, though, have provided conclusive evidence as to whether Kim Chol Jun was Kim Young Nam, who was abducted from a South Korean island in August 1978 at the age of 16.
Choi Son Yong, who heads the South Korean association of abductees' families, says he had been told by a North Korean official that Kim Chol Jun--the man who the Japanese officials met--was not Kim Young Nam.
Apr 13, 2006
