To Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Request for the Permanent Resettlement in Japan of all Japanese Spouses and Family (including grandchildren) of Ethnic Koreans “Repatriated” to North Korea on the occasion of the Stockholm Agreement between Japan and North Korea

On the occasion of the July 1 initiation of the Japan-North Korea government-level consultations, we would like to express our deepest respect for your commitment to resolving humanitarian problems including the issue of helping those abducted by North Korea.

The agreement reached in May at the Japan-North Korea government-level consultations stipulates that the investigation will not only deal with those abducted by North Korea, but will also be carried out comprehensively and thoroughly in relation to all Japanese nationals, including with respect to the remains and grave sites of Japanese nationals who died in present-day North Korea around 1945, Japanese war orphans left behind in China, Japanese spouses of ethnic Koreans who went to North Korea, Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea and Japanese missing persons thought to be in North Korea.

Abductions are a grave violation of human rights and state sovereignty, and as such we understand the rescue of the victims to rightly be the highest priority of government.

However, the Japanese spouses (most of them women) of ethnic Koreans who left for North Korea during the so-called "repatriation" campaign of ethnic Koreans to North Korea that began in 1959 are also Japanese nationals who have met a tragic fate in North Korea. It is likely that many of them were sent to political prison camps and subsequently killed.

Approximately 6700 of these Japanese spouses of ethnic Koreans from Japan and their children held Japanese citizenship at the time they went to North Korea. If those who gave up their citizenship before leaving for North Korea are included, the number is much higher.

Approximately 10 out of that total have escaped North Korea and resettled in Japan, but the vast majority continue to suffer from hunger and oppression, of which many have no doubt perished.

The immigration authorities (Ministry of Justice) and the Japanese Red Cross should still have copies of the lists of Japanese nationals who went to North Korea during the so-called “Repatriation Program”.

The recent Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea also points out that the “Repatriation Program” to North Korea gave rise to forced disappearances.

With North Korea being billed falsely as a “Paradise on Earth”, and untrue assurances that “returnees” would be able to come back to Japan for a visit after three years, the Japanese spouses were completely deceived into going to North Korea.

At the very least, we owe it to them to make sure that they can live out their final years in Japan, their homeland, with the families from whom they have been separated from for too long. We should ensure that they and their families, including their grandchildren, are able to come to Japan if they wish to do so.

Looking out for the welfare of Japanese nationals is the responsibility of the Japanese government. From a humanitarian standpoint as well, the Japanese government must take a strong stance with North Korea and, based on the Stockholm Agreement between Japan and North Korea, see that its demands are met.

Further, there are numerous Japanese nationals who were stranded in North Korea after the end of the Second World War whose fate is still unknown. We call upon the Japanese government to ask the North Korean government not only for their remains and for the right to visit their graves, but also for a full report of the kind of treatment they experienced in North Korea, and for a detailed list of their descendants. In addition, we ask that you allow any of their descendants who so wish to return to Japan.

Based on the Stockholm Agreement between Japan and North Korea, and from the standpoint of human rights diplomacy and the humanitarian spirit, we call upon the Japanese government to do the following with regard to the spouses of ethnic Koreans from Japan who went to North Korea under the “repatriation” program, as well as their families including grandchildren: