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An award winning documentary called "Abduction: The Megumi
Yokota Story" was shown at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Nov. 20. It tells the dramatic story
of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea to help train North Korean spies to talk and act like Japanese. After many years,
North Korea admitted to the kidnappings of 16 Japanese. The remaining surviving abductees were allowed to return and reunite
with their families in Japan. One of the victims, however, Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped to North Korea when 13 years old,
is still unaccounted for, and her parents are continuing their search.
Several American family members with U.S. citizen
children who have been parentally abducted to or retained in Japan, in violation of children's rights, attended the "red carpet"
Washington, D.C. premiere, co-sponsored by the Embassy of Japan. Parents felt compassion for the pain of Japanese families
whose members were abducted to Korea, but protested that the Japanese government was doing the same thing it criticizes North
Korea for doing --allowing the abduction or holding of American citizen children in Japan in violation of their human rights.
The demonstrators, who held banners saying "Japan Kidnaps Children," and passed out flyers showing pictures of their
children they have not seen in years, included Walter Benda, CRC of Japan, Paul Toland, Patrick Braden, Chris Kenyon, as well
as several other family members with children in Japan. Among them was Walter's mother, who has not seen her grandchildren
in 11 years, along with Walter's brother and Paul's brother. David Levy, CEO of Children's Rights Council, and Harvey Walden,
CRC of Maryland, participated in the protest as well.
During the Q and A after the film's showing, to the 250 or so
attendees, including Japanese Ambassador Kato and his wife, Walter Benda's question was more a reflection than a question.
He noted that in the audience of this premiere there were a number of U.S. citizens whose children have been abducted to Japan
and were being held in Japan. They face many of the same challenges as Megumi Yokota's parents faced with respect to North
Korea. All abduction victims face the same grief and heartbreak. He complimented the filmmakers (Chris Sheridan and Patty
Kim) for raising public awareness of the overall abduction issue, and expressed the hope the film would cause Japan to look
deeper inside its heart with respect to how its own government dealt with the abduction issue in cases where Japan was responsible
for the abductions.
Flyers handed out in front of the venue explained CRC of Japan proposals. In addition to encouraging
the Japanese government to facilitate access to children in Japan, modeled on the CRC access programs in the U.S., the organization
is also working for a registry of missing and abducted children in Japan, as well as enactment of the Hague Convention by
Japan, to provide for the return of internationally parentally abducted children to their country of habitual residence.
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