拉致議連・家族会・救う会訪米団が、ワシントンに携えたメッセージ文の英訳版(すなわち実際、米側各方面に手渡したもの)を載せておく。
Update on Developments in North Korea
And the Status of Cooperation between the United States and Japan
This joint delegation was formed and dispatched to Washington, DC because of concern over recent developments following the death of Kim Jong-Il and transfer of power to Kim Jong-Un, including the April 13 missile launch and revelations indicating possible North Korean involvement in the case of a missing young American.
Content of the U.S.-North Korea “Leap Day Agreement” on February 29, 2012, further heightened our anxiety. This agreement addresses North Korea’s missile and nuclear development in ambiguous terms at best while virtually ignoring the human rights issues including the abductions. It was followed by an incomprehensible promise of food aid while the North Korean regime busies itself diverting its money that should be allocated for food into programs for nuclear missile development. Moreover, the type of nutritional assistance packs promised by the U.S. are ideal for use as MRE’s and likely to end up used by the regime’s secret operatives and special forces in support of terrorist activities. We the Japanese whose families and fellow citizens were abducted by North Korean operatives infiltrating into the Japanese homeland cannot help but feel uneasy.
The Japanese are not the only nationals abducted by North Korea. Citizens of over a dozen countries are its victims. According to a U.S. specialist, North Korean abduction is also strongly suspected in the disappearance of a young American from Utah, David Sneddon, who went missing in August, 2004 in an area of YunnanProvince known to be of interest to North Korean agents due to occasional use as an escape route by North Korean defectors. (See attached material.)
Family members of David Sneddon came to Japan in late April where they met with Japan’s Minister for Abductions, Representative Jin Matsubara, along with members of the executive committees of our three organizations. The Sneddon family was also sympathetically received at the event of the April 28 National Rally held in Tokyo, where they gave a moving speech advocating U.S.-Japan cooperation to resolve the abductions.
Our common goal is to see the safe return of all abduction victims. Toward this end we seek assurance that rescue of the abductees is firmly incorporated into operational plans of the U.S. and South Korea, with Japan’s full cooperation, in the event of a contingency such as collapse of the current North Korean regime. We also urge the full-scale re-launching of financial sanctions with “strategic law enforcement” including the cooperation of Japan and other allies, such as the September, 2005 U.S. Government initiative that was so successful before it was unfortunately eviscerated in the vague hope of a diplomatic solution through dialogue.
It is no secret that North Korea has been deeply involved in the WMD development of Iran and Syria. The current approach of relegating North Korean problems to the backburner will only exacerbate the volatile Middle East situation. Progress in both regions can only be achieved if the U.S. and Japan press forward urgently and without delay for resolution of the full range of North Korean issues including the abductions and other human rights abuses. The time has come for U.S. and Japan to stand shoulder to shoulder in a principled stand and face up to North Korea.
May 6, 2012
Takeo Hiranuma, Chairman
Parliamentarian League for Early Repatriation of Abductees
Shigeo Iizuka, Chairman
Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea (AFVKN)
Tsutomu Nishioka, Chairman
National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN)