Tokyo, 11 October: The Japanese government will support private shortwave radio broadcasts to North Korea calling for information on Japanese nationals abducted to the communist country, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday [11 October].
The government will consider using an international broadcasting service facility of Japan Broadcasting Corp., known as NHK, for the “Shiokaze” (sea breeze) radio broadcasts, Suga said during a meeting of the House of Councillors Budget Committee. If a new waveband is required for the broadcasts run by the Investigative Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea, he said, the government may make such a request to the International Telecommunication Union.
The broadcasts have switched waveband and schedules since June following what appeared to be North Korean jamming. The commission launched the radio broadcasts on 30 October last year in a bid to rescue missing Japanese nationals who may have been abducted to North Korea.
North Korea has admitted its agents abducted or lured 13 Japanese nationals to that country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Japanese government has recognized 16 Japanese people, including the 13, as having been abducted to North Korea. The commission has claimed that 100 to 200 others have also been taken to the North.
(Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0802 gmt 11 Oct 06 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands)