We remember at one period of time, a number of little kids went missing. They were never found. Not a single trace. Some people believed they were used as sacrificial lambs in the construction of flyovers such as the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, which was indeed under construction at that time.
Perhaps there's another reason. Could it have been the North Koreans who abducted them? Singapore was a port of call for ships from many countries, including North Korea, China, Poland and USSR. Did North Korean sailors abduct the kids? And why?
This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com
Title : Japan, North Korea negotiators meet in China over abductions
By :
Date : 12 August 2008 0418 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/367027/1/.html
BEIJING : Japanese and North Korean negotiators met in northeast China on Monday to discuss normalising ties, officials said, two months after Pyongyang promised to reinvestigate abductions of Japanese nationals.
The talks were expected to continue for a second day on Tuesday in the city of Shenyang, Akitaka Saiki, Japan's top nuclear negotiator with North Korea, said.
Saiki said the two sides would continue discussing the timing and guidelines for a new investigation into the abduction issue that Pyongyang agreed in June to launch, leading Tokyo to lift some of its sanctions against the communist nation.
"I hope we could reach an agreement as much as possible," Saiki said in footage shown on Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
The meeting, aimed at an eventual normalisation of bilateral relations, is part of a working group set up under six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
"These talks will break off unless both sides fulfil earlier promises," North Korea's envoy to the Japan talks, Song Il-Ho said on NHK television.
Song was quoted as telling Japan's Jiji Press that relations between the two countries had deteriorated since the last bilateral talks in June. He did not give details but said the abduction issue was not the only contentious point between them.
North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. It has returned five victims and their families, while saying the eight others were dead.
But Japan insists that North Korea is hiding survivors and has abducted more people than it acknowledges. - AFP/de
Perhaps there's another reason. Could it have been the North Koreans who abducted them? Singapore was a port of call for ships from many countries, including North Korea, China, Poland and USSR. Did North Korean sailors abduct the kids? And why?
This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com
Title : Japan, North Korea negotiators meet in China over abductions
By :
Date : 12 August 2008 0418 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/367027/1/.html
BEIJING : Japanese and North Korean negotiators met in northeast China on Monday to discuss normalising ties, officials said, two months after Pyongyang promised to reinvestigate abductions of Japanese nationals.
The talks were expected to continue for a second day on Tuesday in the city of Shenyang, Akitaka Saiki, Japan's top nuclear negotiator with North Korea, said.
Saiki said the two sides would continue discussing the timing and guidelines for a new investigation into the abduction issue that Pyongyang agreed in June to launch, leading Tokyo to lift some of its sanctions against the communist nation.
"I hope we could reach an agreement as much as possible," Saiki said in footage shown on Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
The meeting, aimed at an eventual normalisation of bilateral relations, is part of a working group set up under six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
"These talks will break off unless both sides fulfil earlier promises," North Korea's envoy to the Japan talks, Song Il-Ho said on NHK television.
Song was quoted as telling Japan's Jiji Press that relations between the two countries had deteriorated since the last bilateral talks in June. He did not give details but said the abduction issue was not the only contentious point between them.
North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. It has returned five victims and their families, while saying the eight others were dead.
But Japan insists that North Korea is hiding survivors and has abducted more people than it acknowledges. - AFP/de
