Susumu Fujita (left) pictured in a school uniform and a man believed to be Fujita

Photo analysis conducted by Masatsugu Hashimoto, an assistant professor at Tokyo Dental College, suggests that Fujita is the man in the photo, and therefore was likely abducted by North Korea when he went missing in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on Feb. 7, 1976, after leaving home for a part-time job. He was a 19-year-old freshman at Tokyo Gakugei University at the time.

According to a group supporting abductees, the photo was smuggled out of North Korea by someone who fled to China, and the man in the photo was known to be a Japanese abductee.

Fujita is not among the 15 Japanese that the government officially recognizes as being victims of North Korean abductions.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 14, 2004
(C) All rights reserved