Japan mum hopes Trump will get Kim to release her daughter after 48 years in North Korea

The family of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, met the US president previously in Tokyo

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Megumi Yokota, then 13, pictured at an undisclosed location in North Korea after her abduction from Japan. Photo: AP

Published: 9:30am, 23 Jan 2025

The family of a Japanese national who was just 13 when she was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977 have called on US President Donald Trump to intervene with Pyongyang and bring her and other abductees home – but experts say their wish may remain unfulfilled due to complex geopolitical realities.

In a statement released on Tuesday, soon after Trump was sworn into office in Washington, 88-year-old Sakie Yokota said she hoped the president could use his connections with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un to arrange the release of her daughter Megumi.

“I want President Trump to urge North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to realise the rescue and return of the abduction victims,” Yokota said. “Mr Trump is a person who can talk with Mr Kim Jong-un.”

The call for Megumi, 61, and other abductees to be freed was echoed by Takuya Yokota, 56, her younger brother and presently the head of an organisation representing the families of the missing. He called on the Japanese government to work with the new US administration to put pressure on Pyongyang to release the abductees.

Trump has touted his good working relationship with Kim, who he met three times during his first four years in the White House. But other campaigners for the abductees and political analysts say the global geopolitical situation has changed dramatically since the two leaders met, and winning the captives’ release appears to be a remote possibility.

Trump met the Yokota family during his visits to Tokyo in 2017 and 2019 and expressed on both occasions his support for their campaign and promised to raise the matter with Kim. It is not clear if the abductees were on Trump’s agenda during his previous talks with Kim, although any opportunity for progress came to an abrupt halt with the failure of the Hanoi summit in February 2019. Since then, ties between the US and North Korea have worsened over multiple issues, ranging from Pyongyang’s missile tests to its support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Japan’s then prime minister Shinzo Abe meets Sakie Yokota (left), whose daughter Megumi was abducted by North Korea in 1977, in 2018. Photo: Kyodo