The Japanese Abductions Trivia Quiz

Answer: North Korea

The Japanese government had always suspected that North Korea was behind the abductions, but Pyongyang denied involvement until September 17, 2002. It is believed that the citizens were abducted for their identities and to train North Korean agents. Despite the confession, Japan still doubts North Korea's account of what happened.

The Japanese government has identified seventeen people as having been abducted by North Korea, which does not equal the thirteen that North Korea has confessed to. Seventy to eighty missing persons have also been claimed to have been abducted according to their families, but they have not been recognized by either government to be in this group.

Answer: Europe

Toru Ishioka and Kaoru Matsuki were apparently abducted at the same time while living in Europe. Keiko Arimoto was studying in the United Kingdom. The last known contact from her was a letter that came from Copenhagen. A letter, postmarked from Poland, from Ishioka to his family informed them that all three of them were in North Korea.

Answer: Eight

While the five that North Korea stated were alive have been confirmed as so, there is still debate about the fate of the eight. When North Korea returned two cremated remains, DNA testing showed that they were not the individuals that North Korea claimed. North Korea has given two different dates for one abducted citizen's death.

Answer: Gunshot

North Korea claims that Shuichi Ichikawa and Rumiko Masumoto were married in July 1979. Ichikawa reportedly died of a heart attack in September 1979, and Masumoto also had a heart attack in 1981. They were both in their twenties. Tadaaki Hara was reported to have married Yaeko Taguchi in 1984 and died of Hepatic Cirrhosis in 1986. Toru Ishioka and Keiko Arimoto have been reported to have died in a gas accident in November 1988. North Korea has given no evidence to support the claims of any of these causes of death.

Answer: Yaeko Taguchi

A former North Korean agent recalled being taught how to behave like a Japanese person by a woman called Lee Un-Hae. When Taguchi was abducted, she left behind an infant who was only one, named Koichiro Iizuka. Fukie Chimura, who has since returned, remembered staying with Taguchi and how she begged to be set free wanting to reunite with her son. North Korea claims that Taguichi died in a car accident in 1986.

Answer: Megumi Yokota

Megumi Yokota was on her way home from school when she disappeared on November 15, 1977. She lived in Niigata city, a port town that faces the Korean peninsula. She reportedly married a Korean man and had a daughter. DNA tests confirm that the girl is Yokota's daughter. North Korea claims that she committed suicide, but some still doubt whether she died.

Some speculate her widower is a South Korean man who was also abducted. Her parents are outspoken advocates for families of the abduction victims.

Answer: Junichiro Koizumi

Koizumi served three terms as the Japanese Prime Minster from 2001 to 2006. He was considered to be quite flamboyant for a Japanese politician, with a unique hair style and utilizing the media to get his message out into the population. He stirred up national controversy by sending troops to Iraq.

He continued to spark international condemnation by visiting a religious shrine that memorialized the Japanese war dead which included war criminals.

Answer: They did not return to the country that abducted them.

The five survivors (Yasushi and Fukie Chimura, Kaoru and Yukiko Hasuike, and Hitomi Soga) returned to Japan on October 15, 2002. North Korea had the understanding that they would return only temporarily before coming back to North Korea. However on October 24, 2002, the Japanese government announced that they would remain in Japan. All of the survivors left children in North Korea, and Soga left her husband behind her. On May 22, 2004, after successful negotiations, the Chimura and Hasuike children came to Japan for the first time and were reunited with their parents.

Answer: Her mother

Hitomi Soga and her mother, Miyoshi Soga, disappeared after going shopping on August 12, 1978. They lived on Sado Island which is in the Niigata prefecture in the Sea of Japan. According to North Korea, Miyoshi Soga never entered into North Korea. Hitomi was nineteen at the time, and Miyoshi was forty-six.

Answer: He was an American deserter.

Charles Jenkins was in the American military in the sixties guarding the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. When he believed that he was going to be sent to Vietnam, he crossed the border and was forced to be involved in anti-American propaganda.

He has been quoted as saying that his marriage to Soga was the only bright spot in his life there. When he and his daughters came to Japan by way of Indonesia, he reported to an American base and pled guilty to charges of desertion and aiding the enemy.

He was sentenced to thirty days and a dishonorable discharge, but this was shortened for good behavior. He then settled with his family on Sado Island.