Japan Must Answer Questions About Megumi Yokota Test

Japan has extended economic sanctions on North Korea for six months saying the North failed to address the issue of its abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s satisfactorily. The U.S. seems to be unhappy. Washington said outwardly it understands Tokyo’s position, but under the surface there were complaints. The U.S. is discussing removing North Korea from the list of terror sponsoring nations as a reward for the North disabling its nuclear program, so Japan's attempts to link the problem of taking North Korea off the terror-sponsoring country list with the abduction issue constitute a stumbling block to U.S.-North Korea dialogue.
Washington is concerned about Japan's hardline approach and has raised doubts about a DNA test that showed that remains sent back from North Korea were not in fact those of the most famous abduction victim, Megumi Yokotga, which has galvanized Japanese sentiment. Some diplomatic sources in Washington think Japanese rightwingers or "neocons" are distorting the truth by messing with the DNA tests.
The Japanese government announced in late 2004 that DNA tests of the cremated remains North Korea said were those of Megumi Yokota were in fact those of two others. The Japanese were naturally furious, and Tokyo took a series of hardline measures including economic sanctions.
But the international scientific community says it is basically impossible to identify genes from cremated remains. The science journal Nature in February 2005 took formal issue with the Japanese government's DNA test formula.
The Japanese government on Dec. 9, 2004 commissioned the National Research Institute of Police Science under the National Police Agency to identify genes from samples of Yokota’s remains, but the testing failed. The government then reassigned the task to a Teikyo University research team, less experienced in DNA testing, which later announced it confirmed the remains were not Yokota’s.
The problem arises from the fact that the academic in charge of the research team backtracked in an interview with Nature, saying it could not be said for certain that the remains were not those of the woman who was abducted on a Japanese beach at the age of 13. In the wake of a refutation of the interview by the Japanese government, Nature sought another interview with the professor; the Japanese government gagged him by appointing him to the National Research Institute of Police Science, and requiring him to seek approval from the National Police Agency for any media interviews.
Dr. John Butler at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a U.S. authority on gene inspection, said in a recent telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo it is almost impossible to identify genes from remains cremated at 1,200 degrees. World-renowned gene identification experts deny the Japanese government's assertion that genes were extracted from the remains North Korea forwarded to Japan.
One Japan expert says Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is having some trouble expunging the legacy of the neocons, including the possibly bogus Yokota DNA story. Few Japanese people know that their government's announcement on the matter was full of holes; perhaps that is why the Japanese public is furious about North Korean leader Kim Jung-il's reported remarks that there are no more Japanese abductees in the North.
I have no intention whatsoever to defend North Korea’s bizarre abductions of foreign nationals. But it is a serious matter if the Japanese government is involved in the manipulation of the facts or tacitly approved it for political purposes. It behooves Japan to reveal the truth about the DNA test, a problem of its own creation. It would be the first step toward truly resolving the abductions issue and help denuclearize North Korea.

The column was contributed by Choi Woo-suk, the Chosun Ilbo's correspondent in Washington.

October 11, 2007