Repatriated abductee Kaoru Hasuike said Tuesday he was isolated from the rest of North Korean society during the late 1990s, when Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese nationals became a hot topic in Japan.

At a news conference in his hometown -- Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture -- Hasuike said that the North Korean authorities were probably trying to hide him from public view as the issue gained widespread coverage.

More than a dozen Japanese, including Hasuike, were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. It was only in the late 1990s, however, that the issue was taken up as a serious matter by politicians and the Japanese media.