Kyoko Matsumoto KYODO PHOTO

The government has so far officially recognized 16 Japanese as having been kidnapped by North Korea in 11 separate incidents in the 1970s and 1980s. Five were allowed to return to Japan in 2002.

The Matsumoto investigation recently made progress when police managed to get in touch with a relative whom they had been unable to contact and confirmed she had no motive to disappear and there are no signs she was ever involved in any trouble.

A male witness from North Korea, whose name is being withheld, has told authorities he saw a woman who closely resembled Matsumoto in North Korea.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 18, 2006
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