DPJ lawmaker Masaharu Nakagawa, who chairs the opposition party's project team on North Korean issues, said the bill could serve as another "diplomatic card to break the deadlock in the bilateral talks" trying to look into the fate of the Japanese kidnapped to North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s.

By simultaneously taking up the abduction and human rights issues, the bill could make it easier for Japan to work in closer cooperation with other countries, including South Korea and the United States, he said.

The bill calls for the establishment of a task force under the Cabinet Office headed by the prime minister. It would probe the abductions and try to repatriate any victims.

The bill stipulates the government "has an obligation to protect and support" those who have fled North Korea and seek protection in Japan.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 5, 2005
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