Speech at the Rally-U.S. Capital
by Akiko Yamanaka, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

April 26, 2006

Friends and colleagues!

I am AKIKO Yamanaka.
As not only Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan but also as a mother of two sons, let me add a few words.

On the 15th of November, 1977, a girl disappeared from her hometown in Japan.
She was thirteen, and her name was Megumi.

It was a sunny morning.
But her mother said, "Put on a coat, it will be cold when you come back home".
She was a member of her school sports team.
She was supposed to spend a couple of hours after school practicing in the gym.
She said, "That's OK for today, Mom, I will leave it home".
That was what her mother, Mrs. Sakie Yokota, heard from her beloved daughter for the last time.

She never came back home.
At least until now.

Folks,
I said that was what Megumi said for the last time.
Can we allow them to be Megumi's last words?

Can we really?
Tens of others, from Japan, from South Korea and other parts of the world, Pyongyang kidnapped and took to the North.

We shall take all of them back home.

So join me again, folks,
We shall take all of them back home.

We shall take all of them back home.

Thank you very much. Thank you, all.

We have a lot left to do.
Let's walk and work together.