The National Police Agency held a meeting Thursday with officials of 10 prefectural headquarters to discuss strategies to investigate North Korea's abduction of two Japanese couples who have since been repatriated.
The agency aims to confirm that two North Korean agents were responsible for the abductions of Yasushi Chimura, 50, and his wife, Fukie, 50, as well as Kaoru Hasuike, 48, and his wife, Yukiko, 49, and to put them on an international wanted list, agency officials said. The two pairs were not married when they were kidnapped, while on separate dates.
One of the agents is Sin Guang Su, whom Japanese police have concluded abducted the Chimuras in 1978 in Obama, Fukui Prefecture. Sin is already on an international wanted list for allegedly playing a key role in the abduction of 43-year-old Tadaaki Hara in 1980.
The other agent is only identified as Pak, whom Japanese police say played a central role in snatching the Hasuikes, also in 1978, in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture.
The agency on Jan. 6 told Fukui Prefectural Police and Tokyo police to work together on the Chimura case, while telling the Niigata force to cooperate with Tokyo on the Hasuike case.
Officials from other prefectural forces also attended the Thursday meeting, officials said. It is the first time since October 2004 that the agency has held such a meeting.
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