Abductee Hitomi Soga Press Conference Ahead Of 15th Anniversary Of Her Return To Japan

SADO, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 13: Hitomi Soga, who was abducted to North Korea in 1978 and spent 24 years there, attends a press conference ahead of the 15th anniversary of her and 4 other abductees' return to Japan on September 13, 2017 in Sado, Niigata, Japan. Soga said her heart still aches over the fate of her mother, Miyoshi Soga, who would now be 85. The pair were abducted together from Sado Island in August 1978. That was the last time Soga saw her. Under the leadership of the late Kim Jong Il, father of current leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and '80s to train agents in Japanese customs and language. The big breakthrough in the abduction issue for Japan came when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a landmark visit to Pyongyang in September 2002. There, he met with Kim Jong Il, who acknowledged that North Korea had abducted 13 Japanese nationals. North Korea said eight had died and it had no record of other abductees. In 2014, North Korea promised to reopen an investigation into the issue, but reneged after Japan imposed sanctions in 2016 to protest the country's nuclear and missile tests. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)