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Article: North Korean President Surprises Japanese Prime Minister with Confession.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- September 18, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Michael Zielenziger, Knight Ridder Washington Bureau Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 18--TOKYO -- North Korean President Kim Jong Il surprised visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi with a confession Tuesday that North Korean agents had kidnapped 11 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s in order to teach language and culture to spies from the isolated, communist country.
Six of the kidnap victims had died, while four are still alive and one is missing.
The sensational admission ended years of denials by the North Korean leadership. Koizumi had made resolving the kidnap issue a precondition for improving ...