First modification:
In the 1970s and 1980s, North Korea organized a kidnapping campaign in “enemy” countries. As one of its closest neighbors, Japan became a prime target. The program was likely intended to train North Korean spies in foreign languages and customs. France 24’s Louis Belin, Philippe Chambret, Constantin Simon and Aruna Popuri went to the Japanese city of Niigata, where a teenage girl was kidnapped in 1977.
It was not until 2002 that the dictatorship in Pyongyang officially acknowledged some of the kidnappings.
Although North Korea ultimately admitted to 13 kidnappings and eventually sent some of these Japanese citizens home, Tokyo has evidence of 17 kidnappings, but there could be many more, perhaps hundreds.
One particular case has captured the public imagination: that of Megumi Yokota. She was only 13 years old when she was kidnapped almost half a century ago in Niigata, on the Japanese coast. She has never returned and Pyongyang claims she died, but her family refuses to give up hope.
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