My most recent staff pick was North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter by Sakie Yokota. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently met with Sakie Yokota while meeting with families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, as reported by The New York Times.
This summer, CNN’s Anderson Cooper ran a story that was both shocking in its immediacy and haunting with its heart-wrenching tale. Four years ago, North Korea admitted to a program of abducting Japanese citizens in the hopes of training them as spies during the Cold War. Sakie Yokota lost her thirteen-year-old daughter, Megumi, in 1977 to this insidious scheme. This is the story of one woman’s personal struggle to find the daughter who was so cruelly taken from her and her transformation from happy housewife to political activist and crusader.
In August 2006, Sakie met with President Bush to further talks about demanding sanctions on North Korea. The documentary, Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story is available and also a quick search on YouTube will allow you to explore more coverage of this astonishing emotional and political quagmire. This riveting true story of every parent’s worst nightmare will captivate and horrify you.
-Erica