US envoy to the UN vows support for families of Japanese who were abducted and taken to North Korea

America stands with Japan until all the Japanese abducted by North Korea decades ago return home to end their painful separation, United States ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Thursday in Tokyo.

Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens, possibly many more, to train them as agents during the 1970s and 1980s. Twelve remain missing. They include teenage students and others living along Japan’s coasts, and many were bundled into small boats and taken across the sea to North Korea.

Thomas-Greenfield began her Japan visit by meeting with families of those kidnapped.

“The United Stats stands with all the families, with all of Japan and with the international community in pressing for a resolution that will allow all families separated by the regime’s policies to be reunited,” she said at the outset of her meeting with five relatives of the abductees and a representative from their support group at the Prime Minister’s Office.

“I’m all too familiar with the pain and the loss and the suffering that you family members here are experiencing,” she said. “I know how painful it is for you, and then how long you have had to endure this pain.”

Thomas-Greenfield noted she has worked with North Korea-related issues throughout her career.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is committed to raising the abduction issue “at every opportunity and calling for the return of abducted Japanese citizens to their family,” the ambassador said, adding that America sticks to that policy regardless of the leadership.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has repeatedly stated his determination and effort toward holding a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to achieve the return of the