Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
Big changes are taking place in the international order.

As the Ukraine war triggered by Russia’s aggression approaches its second anniversary next month, the situation is tough for Ukraine due to dwindling Western support. In October last year, Israel launched military attacks on Gaza in response to a terrorist attack by the Hamas, an Islamist organization controlling the Palestinian enclave.

If Russia wins in the Ukraine war, it will embolden three other authoritarian countries, China, Iran, and North Korea, which have supported Russia. Of these four countries, three are Japan’s neighbors except Iran. Japanese people live in such regions, but they seem to be laid-back for that.

Turn attention to the Korean Peninsula

Many have already pointed out that Japan lacks various national security preparations. Japan is urgently required to make such preparations in response to changes in the international situation.

In particular, Japanese people need to turn their attention and interest toward the Korean Peninsula. At an enlarged plenary session of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party that lasted until December 30, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said, “North-South Relationship [between North and South Koreas] is no longer a relationship of the same people, but completely fixed as a hostile two-state relationship, a relationship between belligerent countries in a state of war.”

Denying that North and South Koreans are the same people means abandoning the pretext of unifying their homeland divided after Japan’s defeat in World War II. South Korea has heightened its vigilance in response to his remark,

Since ancient times, military tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been a crisis for Japan. Furthermore, it remains a serious problem that Japan cannot rescue abductees who are held captive in North Korea. (There are also abductees other than Japanese) Just as we think of people in Ukraine and Gaza, we should think of our fellow abductees.

This year will mark 47 years since Megumi Yokota was abducted by North Korea, and 61 years since Takeshi Terakoshi, who was also a first-year junior high school student when he went missing, was abducted. There are many more missing persons who are likely to have been abducted before them.

Enough time has passed for a person who was a first-year junior high school student to have grandchildren. Irrespective of whether there were some efforts by the government to rescue abductees, no Japanese abductees have been able to return home, other than five who came back to Japan in 2002, including Kaoru Hasuike. Abductees and their relatives have grown old during that time. Not a small number of them passed away in despair.

Take advantage of upheaval

While the abduction issue has been stalled for a long time, you may think of taking advantage of the recent changes in international relations to rescue the abductees. You cannot seize the opportunity once it passes. In the current chaotic international situation, I would like to make various assumptions, explore possibilities, and realize them. Because what will happen in the future is unknown, it is necessary for the government and private sectors to prepare in advance. I believe that these efforts will lead to the resolution of various issues facing Japan.

In the quake-stricken areas on the Noto Peninsula, the Self-Defense Forces, police, firefighters, and many others are working hard to rescue and support disaster-hit people. The same should come for Japanese abductees in North Korea. I would like to see the Japanese who carry the flag of Japan rescue the Japanese abductees themselves and bring them back to Japan.

Nobuko Araki is a Korea researcher and a member of the Planning Committee at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals.