拉致らち被害ひがい者しゃ家族かぞく会かい 12年ねんぶりに街頭がいとう署名しょめい活動かつどう 親しん世代せだい存命ぞんめいのうちに

The families association of victims abducted by North Korea conducted a signature campaign on the streets of Tokyo for the first time in 12 years.

Of the government-recognized abduction victims, only Megumi Yokotas mother from the parent generation is still alive, and the families are increasingly alarmed as they feel that the time remaining is limited.

On the 26th in Tokyos Ginza, 20 people including family members of abduction victims and supporters held a signature campaign, such as Takuya Yokota, the representative of the families association and younger brother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted when she was a first-year junior high school student, and Koichiro Iizuka, whose mother Yaeko Taguchi was abducted when he was one year old.

It was the first time in 12 years since April 2013 that the families association conducted a signature-collecting campaign on the street, and the families appealed to passersby, saying, Please cooperate with us by signing so that we can bring back all the victims.

In February of this year, Akihiro Arimoto, the father of abductee Keiko Arimoto, passed away at the age of 96. Now, among the parents of government-recognized abductees, only Sakie Yokota, the 89-year-old mother of Megumi Yokota, remains alive.

The Family Association, in its new activity policy, has strongly expressed a sense of urgency that the remaining time is limited, and is calling on the government to ensure the simultaneous return of all victims while the parents generation is still alive. The signature forms have also been changed to reflect this.

Mr. Takuya Yokota, the representative of the Families Association, said, As one parent after another passes away, we are faced with the truly urgent problem of running out of time.

I want to value this activity of using our voices as a weapon to appeal to public opinion, appeal to the Japanese government, and confront the North Korean authorities, they said.

The families plan to visit Washington, D.C. in the United States next week to meet with senior officials of the Trump administration and request their cooperation in resolving the abduction issue.