Akihiro Arimoto, whose daughter Keiko was spirited away to North Korea more than four decades ago and remains unaccounted for, died late Friday at the age of 96, an abductees group said Monday.

His death is a sign of how long the issue has dragged on for, with most parents of abductees having now died without finding out what happened to their loved ones.

Sakie Yokota, 89, is now the last remaining parent of 12 Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea who have yet to be accounted for despite efforts by Tokyo, with support from Washington, to pressure Pyongyang into returning them to Japan.