Contradictory Understandings of “Abduction”: Reflections on two Controversies

Abstract

The following passages are excerpted from Prof. Uesugi Satoshi's important consideration of inherent paradoxes in Japanese society today involving, on the one hand, an intense determination to resolve North Korea's “abduction” of Japanese nationals during the late 1970s and 80s, and on the other hand, an equally apparent determination to downplay the “abduction” elements of Japan's state sponsored system of wartime sexual slavery, commonly known as the “comfort women.” In his lengthy article, Uesugi examines aspects of the recent controversy over the Asahi newspaper's coverage of the comfort women issue, as well as its August 2014 retractions of various articles it previously published. The former Asahi journalist, Uemura Takashi, who wrote those newspaper articles decades ago, has contributed his story to the Asia-Pacific Journal. We draw attention below to Uesugi's emphasis on the contradictions in mediating “abduction” that are at play today, highlighting especially his attention to the legal definition of the crime of abduction. His essay in full in Japanese is linked at the end, as are materials on the issues from a 2007 press conference organized by the Center for Research and Documentation of which he is secretary general.