North Korea jams Japanese shortwave broadcasts tracing missing nationals

North Korea jams Japanese shortwave broadcasts tracing missing nationals

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 9 May: Shortwave radio broadcasts by a Japanese group investigating missing Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korea have been jammed by North Korea since Friday [5 May], Japan’s top government spokesman said Tuesday.

“Unknown transmission emitted from within North Korea has been confirmed and is believed to have been jamming the shortwave radio broadcasts,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference and described such interference as “deplorable”.

The group, known as the Investigative Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea, broadcasts the programme “Shiokaze” twice a day on shortwave radio through a British company. It can be heard in North Korea, as well as in areas near the North Korean border in China and in the northern part of South Korea.

The programme, which began 30 October last year according to the group’s website, is aimed at rescuing the missing Japanese nationals by broadcasting their information as well as messages from their families and relatives in Japan.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents abducted or lured 13 Japanese nationals in the late 1970s and early 1980s to the country, reportedly for using their identities and for teaching language and culture to spies.

The Japanese government has officially recognized 16 Japanese, including the 13, as having been abducted by North Korea. But the group believes that as many as 100 to 200 others have also been taken by the North.

(Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0851 gmt 9 May 06 via BBC Monitoring)