A decade has passed since five Japanese abducted by North Korean agents were returned to Japan on Oct. 15, 2002. That event took place a month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held a summit that culminated in the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration in which Japan apologized for its colonial rule over Korea and North Korea apologized for its abductions of Japanese citizens.
After the two leaders held a second summit in May 2004, seven children of the abductees and an abductee's spouse came to Japan. But since then no progress has been made on the abduction issue and North Korea's treatment of it has been insincere, as shown by its unsubstantiated claims that some abductees are dead. Clearly Japan must rethink its traditional approach to the issue.
After North Korea carried out a nuclear-weapon test in 2006, Japan strengthened economic sanctions against it but this policy has borne no fruit. North Korea responded by increasing its trade with China, which in 2011 accounted for 90 percent the North's total trade volume. And despite sanctions, Japanese products are available in Pyongyang via China or Southeast Asian countries.