Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Resolution on the Question of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

December 19, 2002

The Government of Japan welcomes the unanimous adoption at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly on December 18 (New York local time) of the resolution on the Question of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
Japan became the co-sponsor of this resolution, considering it appropriate to arouse international public opinion on the question of enforced disappearances occurring all over the world, including the cases of abduction by North Korea, and to call for North Korea and other nations concerned to address these questions. We appreciate the fact that this resolution was unanimously adopted at the UN General Assembly as it draws the attention of the international community to the question of enforced disappearances and urges the nations concerned to tackle the problems of involuntary disappearances including the abductions by North Korea.
Japan expects North Korea to seriously accept the consensus of international society as shown in this resolution, and sincerely move forward toward solving the abduction issues.

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