Abductees announce they want to stay in Japan

NIIGATA, Japan -- Five Japanese kidnapped by North Korea decades ago removed pins with pictures of North Korea's leader they have worn since their homecoming in October and announced Thursday they want to stay in Japan.

The five, who returned to Japan in October, previously avoided giving clear answers about their future plans. They left behind seven children and a husband in North Korea.

But on Thursday, former abductee Yasushi Chimura said he and the others have decided to remain in Japan, at least for now.

"Five of us have reaffirmed our decision to stay in Japan and wait for our families," Chimura said, reading from a letter addressed to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. "We ask to be reunited with our families as soon as possible."

Reversing years of denial, North Korea admitted in September it had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies in Japanese language and culture. It said eight have since died.

Extended stay

North Korea agreed to allow the five others to return to Japan for a two-week visit. But once the former abductees were back in their hometowns, Japan demanded that North Korea allow their families to leave as well.

"I have no intention of returning to North Korea," said former abductee Kaoru Hasuike. He said he will await the arrival of his children before deciding where they will live permanently.

In a highly symbolic action, the five removed their North Korean pins.

"But by removing our pins, we are not declaring that the North is our enemy," said Hasuike, who was a 20-year-old college student when he and his girlfriend Yukiko Okudo were kidnapped. They married in North Korea and have two children.

"I gradually regained my identity as a Japanese," Hasuike said. "My children are also Japanese. I think they should come see the towns where their parents grew up and learn about their own culture."

The five former abductees came to this northern coastal city Wednesday for a three-day government-organized reunion. While they didn't know one another in communist North Korea, they have built a friendship since returning to Japan.

In talks with the five on Thursday, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe repeated government pledges not to move ahead with efforts to normalize relations with North Korea until the safety of their children has been guaranteed. He also promised to keep pressing North Korea to send their families to Japan.

Koizumi said he would respect the families' wishes. "We are proceeding on the assumption they will stay permanently in Japan," he said.

After speaking to reporters Thursday, the five visited a hot springs resort, where they put on matching kimonos, soaked in hot baths and chatted over dinner.

The five beamed while discussing how they would spend New Year holidays, when millions of Japanese return to their hometowns for family get-togethers.

One of the returnees, Hitomi Soga, asked the government to allow her to fly to the United States to meet with the mother of her American husband, Charles Robert Jenkins, who remains in North Korea with the couple's two daughters.

Tokyo and Washington have yet to reach a decision on how to handle Jenkins, who as an alleged U.S. Army deserter faces arrest and extradition to the United States if he joins Soga. She wants the United States to pardon him.