横田夫妻と孫娘 対面にめぐみさん不在の重み

The Yomiuri Shimbun March 18, 2014
Megumi’s absence casts shadow over parents’ meeting with granddaughter
横田夫妻と孫娘　対面にめぐみさん不在の重み（3月18日付・読売社説）

“Something like a dream come true.” “She [our granddaughter] looks like Megumi when she was young.”
　「夢のようなことが実現した」「若い時のめぐみによく似ている」

The words of Shigeru Yokota and his wife Sakie show that being able to meet their granddaughter was a pleasure greater than they had dreamed of.
　孫娘とようやく出会えたことは、やはり望外の喜びだっただろう。

The Yokotas met Kim Eun Gyong, the daughter of their daughter Megumi—one of the many Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea—for the first time in Ulan Bator from March 10 to 14. The pair said they also met their 10-month-old great-granddaughter.
　北朝鮮による拉致被害者・横田めぐみさんの両親の横田滋さん、早紀江さん夫妻が、めぐみさんの娘、キム・ウンギョンさんとモンゴルのウランバートルで、初めて対面した。生後１０か月のひ孫にも会えたという。

The Yokotas had expressed a desire to meet their granddaughter since her existence became known in 2002. But they had refrained from doing so for fear that if they visited North Korea to meet her, Pyongyang would use the visit as an excuse to say the abduction issue had been put to rest.
　夫妻は、孫娘の存在が判明した２００２年から、会いたいとの意向を示していた。だが、訪朝すれば、拉致問題の幕引きに利用されかねないと見送ってきた。

With Shigeru at 81 and Sakie at 78, the government considered the advanced ages of the Yokotas an important humanitarian concern and did all it could do to make the meeting possible through negotiations with North Korea.
　夫妻が高齢であることなど、「人道的な見地」を重視して、政府が北朝鮮と交渉し、面会実現に尽力したことは評価したい。

Senior Foreign Ministry officials reportedly began a series of secret meetings with their North Korean counterparts in Hanoi and Hong Kong in late January to make arrangements to allow the meeting to happen in a third country. The realization of this meeting could be the first step in resolving the abduction issue, on which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe places great priority.
　外務省の幹部は今年１月下旬以降、ベトナム・ハノイや香港で北朝鮮の当局者と極秘に接触し、第三国での対面の実現に向けて調整したという。拉致問題の解決を前面に掲げる安倍首相にとって、具体的な一歩だと言える。

The fact remains, however, that Megumi was not present when the Yokotas met their granddaughter, and no information about her safety has been ascertained. Her absence must be taken seriously.
　ただ、その場にめぐみさんの姿はなく、安否に関する情報は得られなかった。その重みもまた、かみしめなければならない。

North Korea insists that Megumi died, and provided Japan with what it claimed to be her remains, but the remains provided were later shown not to be hers. After that discovery, Pyongyang pledged to restart investigations of the abductions of Japanese nationals, but has postponed delivering on that promise. The country has shown an extremely disingenuous attitude.
　北朝鮮は、めぐみさんが「死亡した」と主張し、日本に遺骨を提供したが、別人のものだった。その後も、拉致問題の再調査を約束しながら、一方的にこれを見送った。極めて不誠実な態度だ。

What’s behind concession?

The intentions of North Korea in accepting the meeting between the Yokotas and Eun Gyong in a third-party country should be examined carefully.
　第三国でのウンギョンさんとの対面を受け入れた北朝鮮側の意図を十分見極めたい。

The North Korean administration of Kim Jong Un purged Choe Thae Bok, who had served as a link with China, in December, and in doing so threw cold water onto bilateral relations between the two, further exacerbating the country’s economic plight. Pyongyang is expected to use the abduction issue as a bargaining chip to call for Tokyo to ease its economic sanctions, hoping to ward off the people’s discontent.
　昨年１２月、金正恩政権は中国とのパイプ役だった張成沢氏を粛清し、中国との関係が冷え込んだ。経済は一層困窮している。国民の不満をかわそうと拉致問題で駆け引きし、見返りに日本に経済制裁の緩和を求めてくるだろう。

Behind North Korea’s conciliatory move is a quickly tightening international noose around North Korea over the abduction issue.
　背景には、拉致問題を巡る北朝鮮包囲網の強まりもある。

A U.N. investigation panel on human rights abuses has compiled a report accusing North Korea of infringing on human rights under its state leaders. Pyongyang evidently wants to calm international criticism of the country by improving relations with Tokyo.
　国連の調査委員会が、北朝鮮は国家ぐるみで拉致など人権侵害を行っていると糾弾した報告書をまとめた。北朝鮮は、対日関係の改善を図ることで、国際的な批判を和らげたいのではないか。

Japan must tackle the abduction issue seriously. At the same time, it needs to seek a comprehensive solution to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs, which threaten the international community. Japan must firmly maintain its stance of holding dialogue with and applying pressure on North Korea.
　日本は、拉致問題に真剣に取り組まねばならない。同時に、国際社会を脅かす核・ミサイル問題の包括的な解決も求めていく必要がある。北朝鮮への「対話と圧力」を堅持していくべきだ。

Japan and North Korea will hold an unofficial meeting of foreign ministerial division directors in Shenyang, China, on Wednesday and Thursday. It is essential for Japan to seek to build on the unofficial meeting to schedule official meetings and sound out North Korea’s response.
　日朝両政府は１９、２０の両日に中国・瀋陽で外務省課長級による非公式協議を行う。これを正式な協議に格上げするとともに、北朝鮮の出方を探ることが肝要だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 18, 2014)
（2014年3月18日01時59分 読売新聞）