▲ State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on Aug. 14, 2023 in this captured image. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

N Korea-Japanese abductees

U.S. calls on N. Korea to give 'full' accounting of Japanese abductees

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. State Department spokesperson called on North Korea Tuesday to offer a "full" account of Japanese citizens abducted by it decades ago, amid reports that a group of their families will visit the United States to seek America's support to secure their repatriation.

Vedant Patel, the department's deputy spokesperson, made the call, reiterating Washington's support for the families.

"The U.S. stands with the long-suffering relatives of Japanese abductees, and we continue to urge the DPRK to right this historic wrong and provide full accounting of those that remain missing," he told a press briefing.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Japan's Kyodo News and other media outlets reported that the families of Japanese abductees departed for Washington on Monday.

Tokyo has officially recognized 17 citizens as victims abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s. Five of them returned to Japan following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip to Pyongyang in 2002, while the other 12 abductees remain unaccounted for.

Pyongyang argues that of the 12 Japanese nationals in question, eight passed away while the other four did not even come to the North. The regime is known to have kidnapped Japanese nationals to train its spies in Japanese language and culture.

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