Everyone Has Human Rights

MATSUMOTO Yūmi
12th grade, Kansai Soka Senior High School

The YOKOTAs were a happy family until North Korea suddenly took away their ordinary lives. Their time has stopped since then.

Abduction is definitely unacceptable, and when such has happened, the abductee must have been astonishingly scared and helpless. I have thought this way all the time, and when I thought about the families who were left behind, I also thought that it’s totally reasonable for them to hope for their families’ immediate return. On the other hand, I had a question. While the abductees spend many years in North Korea, they form new relationships with North Koreans. Would the abductees really hope to come back to Japan?

After I learned more about the issue, my thoughts gradually changed. As I watched an animated film and read documents on the issue, I felt ashamed of myself for how little I knew about the issue. I was particularly shocked by the fact that the abductees were forced to educate North Korean spies. How sad were the families in Japan learning that their loved ones were forced to help out in some criminal act. In an interview article of HASUIKE’s, he said, “the only freedom I could have in North Korea was to think in my head. In order to protect myself, I said only what was safe for me to say and held my tongue otherwise. I realized that North Korea was a country without individual human rights. As I learned these facts, I understood more, and my opinion had changed. The families of abductees must’ve longed for their families’ return, and the abductees must’ve longed to come back to Japan, where everyone is granted human rights.”

I feel that many people are like me in thinking they know all about the issue. Actually, they have only scratched the surface of the issue and only know that “some Japanese had been abducted by North Korea and their families are working hard to bring their loved ones home.” Knowing some of the facts is definitely important because nothing will start if you have no idea. But that is not enough to solve the problem. People should know that North Korea has committed state crimes, and their victims are from many countries. Each one of the abductees have suddenly lost their precious livelihood in their own countries and are forced to live in North Korea, where no human rights are granted. We ought to understand this threat to human rights, an essential aspect of people’s lives, as an international problem. In a few decades, the abductees and their families will not be here. North Korea’s human rights violations definitely should not be regarded as something from the past and forgiven, even when all of them are gone. The abductees and their families’ solitude, sorrow, agony, anger, and hope should be taken over by us, and society should take actions to protect human rights for everyone.