Now that his children are grown up and have thoroughly adapted to life in Japan, Kaoru Hasuike can now focus on shedding light on his ordeal after being abducted by North Korean agents from Japan in 1978. He is writing a book entitled “Abduction and My Decision” which talks about the 24 years he lived in North Korea and his return to Japan a decade ago, October 15 to be exact.
Hasuike, now 55 and a resident of the Niigata Prefecture city of Kashiwazaki, talked about how worried he and his wife were about their two children who stayed in North Korea, after the couple returned to Japan. Fortunately, through inter-governmental talks, they were reunited in Japan after a year and seven months of separation. But while his family had a happy ending, he worried about fellow abductees who have been unable to come home and he has continually cooperated with the Japanese government, and shared all the information he has on their whereabouts.
He said that the claims of North Korea that eight abductees have died may not be true and their evidence is groundless. In fact, he testified to seeing abductee Megumi Yokota until 1994, which forced Pyongyang to correct her date of death from March 1993 to April 1994.
Just this August, bilateral talks have opened between the two governments to settle once and for all this abduction issue. Hasuike says that Japan must adapt a no compromise stance until all victims, not just the 17 that have been recognized, are returned home to Japan. He said he wrote the book in order for ordinary citizens to know what it was like to live in North Korea during that time so the people will pressure the government into fully investigating this issue.