If I Were a Victim – the North Korean Abduction Issue

UEDA Karin
7th grade, Tokai University Takanawadai Junior & Senior High School

I am an ordinary junior high school student. When Ms. YOKOTA, Megumi was abducted by North Korea, she was my age and in the same grade. I could not imagine what it would be like to be abducted just when I started my junior high school life, getting used to the new routine, having new friends, and enjoying my school life. It’s just impossible for this to happen to me, leaving home for school saying “I’ll be home soon” for the last time.

Against my will, if some stranger takes me to a country I do not know, without telling me anything, if I were to be taken away from my beloved family, it would be tremendously difficult. I may become psychotic because my precious daily life had been destroyed.

I researched why North Korea abducted Japanese people like Megumi. It was thought that they planned to make the abductees into spies who could falsely identify themselves as Japanese and to optimize their skills by providing educators. Is that a good reason to destroy someone’s life? Not at all.

Everyone in the world is granted human rights when they are born. That is, to have rights to live their own lives. This is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. These rights, however, have been violated and deprived from not only the abductees but also their families. Of course, the lives and safety of abductees are important. But, we should know abductees’ families have been deprived of freedom as well.

Most people at my age know very little about the North Korean abduction issue. Like how I was before, most of their awareness is limited to something like, “some people were abducted by North Korea.” It is someone else’s problem, not ours, because it is at the national level. I was given a chance to watch the animated film “Megumi” through this event and realized I may be able to do three things to help resolve the issue. The first is to participate in a petition and talk about the issue with friends. Since I watched the film on YouTube, I could easily watch it with my friends during recess, which can be done soon, too.

The second, I will try to avoid false information and learn more about the issue and apply what I learn in my daily life. I live in a country that grants basic human rights, which makes the human rights issue all the more important for me to learn. This act may direct me away from segregating or stereotyping people in North Korea because they may be victims of human rights violations as well.

The third, I will continue to wish for the resolution of the abduction issue and for the families’ smiles.

A junior high school student like me may only do so much, but I want to continue to do these things as I grow up, and when I become a mother, I will tell my children about the issue of abducted Japanese.