Megumi Yokota
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Megumi Yokota, born October 15, 1964-March 13, 1994?, is one of at least thirteen Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was abducted on November 15, 1977 at the age of thirteen and apparently forced to help train North Korean spies to pass as Japanese citizens. In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had committed suicide on March 13, 1994 (originally announced as 1993 and later corrected to 1994) and returned what it said were her ashes. Japan stated that a DNA test had proved that they could not have been her remains, and her family does not believe that she would have committed suicide. She is believed to have been abducted by Sin Gwang-su.
In the North in 1986, Yokota married a South Korean national, Kim Young-nam, likely also abducted, and the couple had a daughter in 1987, Kim Hye-gyong. In June 2006, Kim Young-Nam, who has since remarried, was allowed to have his family from the South visit him, and during the reunion he confirmed Yokota had committed suicide in 1994 after suffering from mental illness, and had had several attempts at suicide before. He also claimed the remains handed in 2004 are genuine. His comments were however widely dismissed as repeating the official Pyongyang line, and many, especially on the Japanese side, still believe Yokota is alive somewhere; in August 2006, however, some accused the Tokyo government of hiding proof of her death.