Families of Japanese individuals suspected to have been abducted by North Korea called on the international community Friday to support their struggle to find out the fates of their loved ones ahead of their visit to the International Criminal Court next week.

"I hope, by filing this petition with the ICC, the prosecutors at the court as well as the international community will hear what we have to say and understand such cruelties were inflicted on innocent citizens," Shoichi Osawa, who heads a group representing such relatives, said during a press conference in Tokyo.

The families and their supporters will deliver a petition to The Hague-based ICC, requesting an investigation into the suspected abductions of at least 100 Japanese as a case of crimes against humanity.

"Our hearts break knowing that our families are leading tough lives waiting to be rescued, but we can do little as they are in North Korea," said the 81-year-old, whose brother Takashi was last seen in 1974 on an island in the Sea of Japan.

The North Korean regime is thought to have abducted foreign citizens, including those from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and France, to make them teach North Korean agents their languages and customs so the agents could pass as people of the countries targeted in espionage activities, the families said.

Yohei Suda, a lawyer working on behalf of the families, said "the international community should treat these gross human rights violations as crimes against the whole community, not merely as bilateral matters."

The Japanese group is hoping to arrange a meeting with an ICC prosecutor so the group members can submit the petition in person and urge the investigation and prosecution of current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who they say has continued human rights abuses against the abductees by refusing to give information on their whereabouts.

North Korea admitted in 2002 to having abducted 13 Japanese nationals, adding that eight of them had died.

Japan officially recognizes 17 people as abductees beyond doubt, while suspecting many more people have been abducted by Pyongyang. Five of the 17 were returned to Japan in 2002.

A 2014 U.N. report on North Korea says "it is probable that at least 100 Japanese nationals have been abducted" by Pyongyang.

The U.N. Human Rights Council approved a resolution last March recommending the use of the ICC -- which holds the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes -- in resolving human rights violations in North Korea.

==Kyodo