Shigeo Iizuka, who served for 14 years as the head of a group representing families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, died early Saturday morning. He was 83.
Due to poor health, Iizuka stepped down from the post last week, transferring leadership to Takuya Yokota, the younger brother of abductee Megumi Yokota who is known as a symbolic figure among those taken by North Korea.
A native of Tokyo, Iizuka, whose younger sister Yaeko Taguchi was abducted by North Korea, headed the group from 2007, succeeding Yokota's father Shigeru who was its first leader. Yokota's sister Megumi was kidnapped while on her way home from school at the age of 13 in 1977, while Taguchi was abducted at age 22 in 1978.
"I'm truly sorry that he passed away without reuniting with his sister," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno separately said, "I'm filled with intense remorse as we failed to bring his sister back while he was alive and realize their reunion in Japan." Matsuno is also minister in charge of the abduction issue.
Shigeru Yokota resigned due to health reasons after having served as the group's chief for over 10 years until November 2007. He died in June 2020 at the age of 87 without ever being reunited with Megumi.
The group's losses due to the aging of its leaders underscores that many relatives of the abductees have become elderly in the decades since the disappearances.
Iizuka raised his abducted sister's son Koichiro Iizuka, who became the secretary general of the family group with the change of leadership last week.
During a meeting with Kishida shortly after assuming the post in October, Iizuka vowed to "never give up" on settling the issue, saying, "It is disappointing that there has been no progress in the abduction issue despite the countless changes in prime ministers."
Iizuka met with then U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo when he visited the Japanese capital in 2017 and 2019 to seek U.S. cooperation to resolve the abduction issue.
The past abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents has been a major stumbling block for a peace treaty between Tokyo and Pyongyang, along with the reclusive country's nuclear and missile development.
The Japanese government officially lists 17 citizens as having been abducted by North Korea and suspects Pyongyang's involvement in other disappearances of Japanese nationals.
Of the 17, five were repatriated in 2002 following then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea. While Japan continues to seek the return of the remaining 12, North Korea maintains that eight have died and the other four never entered the country.
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