On a rainy night in fall 1996, a Japan-born tractor driver in North Korea dived into the fast and muddy current of the Yalu River on the border with China in a last-ditch attempt to escape the hunger and poverty that had plagued his family for decades.
A couple of months later, he returned to Japan for the first time in 36 years. Now, more than six years on, his desperate hope of helping his family remains unrealized.
"No public assistance is available for Japanese returnees from North Korea, and I can hardly make a living here," said the 55-year-old man, who works as a security guard in Tokyo.