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Foreign Media Personnel Press Tour to Raise Awareness of the Abduction Issue

International indignation over the abductions is a driving force toward resolution of the issue, and it was with this in mind that the Headquarters for the Abduction Issue organized a press tour for foreign media personnel stationed in Japan. The tour focused on this issue, and is described briefly below. Participating media personnel sent articles to newspapers and other media in their own countries, and the tour was widely reported in Japan’s media as well. The tour thus had a very positive effect.

1. Duration: Two days, one night stopover, December 4-5 (Tues. and Wed.), 2007

2. Schedule:

  • Roundtable discussion with Kyoko Nakayama, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
  • Roundtable discussion with top officials of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
  • Visit to the Japan Coast Guard Museum, Yokohama
  • Roundtable discussion with specialists
  • Tour of the site where Ms. Megumi Yokota was abducted; briefing at the Niigata Prefectural Government Office and Prefectural Police Department
  • Meeting with Shigeru Yokota, father of an abductee and the previous representative of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, and with her mother, Sakie
  • Meeting with Tsutomu Nishioka, the Deputy Chairperson of the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN)

3. Participating media personnel

Eleven foreign media personnel stationed in Japan, from the U.S.A., the U.K., France, Germany, Israel, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea

4. Some of the articles published by participating media personnel