15 November 1977, Niigata, Japan: It
was after sunset on a crisp November evening when Megumi Yokota left
her last badminton practice. Sharp winds chilled the fishing port of
Niigata, and the grey sea rumbled at its brink.
The lights of home were seven minutes' walk away.
Megumi,
13, with her book-bag and badminton racquet, said goodbye to two
friends 800ft from her parents' front door. But she never reached it...
Out
on the Sea of Japan a boat manned by North
Korean agents was speeding towards the Korean Peninsula with a terrified
schoolgirl locked in the hold...
The country's future leader Kim Jong-il, then head of its intelligence
services, wanted to expand his spy programme.
Kidnapped foreigners
weren't just useful as teachers. They could be spies themselves, or
Pyongyang could steal their identities for false passports. They could
marry other foreigners (something forbidden to North Koreans), and their
children, too, could serve the regime.
more
