Emotional return for Japanese abductees

For the five returnees it has been almost a quarter century since they last saw their families

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VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports five Japanese nationals abducted by N. Korean spy agents in the 1970's have been allowed a visit home for the first time in 24 years. (October 15) PLAY VIDEO RELATED • Profiles: Abducted Japanese  • Japan to press ahead with N. Korea talks  • Families' anger over N. Korean abductions

TOKYO, Japan -- Five Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s have returned home to an emotional reunion with their families.

A specially chartered jet brought the five from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to Tokyo's Haneda airport where they were welcomed on the tarmac by relatives, many in floods of tears.

What is expected to be an emotion-charged visit was negotiated last month by officials from the Japanese and North Korean foreign ministries and is expected to last about two weeks.

However the abductees' children born in North Korea -- as well as the American husband of one abducted woman, U.S. Army defector Robert Jenkins -- will remain behind in Pyongyang.

Also not making the trip will be eight other Japanese abducted in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the same bizarre North Korean intelligence gathering effort.

According to North Korean officials the eight all died, although their families remain skeptical that they are being told the truth.

They say they believe their relatives are being held in a secret location inside North Korea or were killed for trying to escape.

The five returnees are expected to face intense media attention during their stay in Japan, despite appeals from government officials and welfare groups that they be given time to spend alone with their families.

The families of the dead abductees will also be looking to the visitors in the hope that they can provide more information about the fate of their loved ones.

Admission

The issue of the abductions has long been a thorn in the side of relations between North Korea and Japan, which have never established formal diplomatic relations.

For years Pyongyang denied that the abductions ever took place.

The fate of the missing Japanese has long been a thorn in the side of relations

However, in a stunning admission last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il confirmed that agents had indeed kidnapped 13 Japanese as part of an effort to educate North Korean spies in the Japanese culture and language.

The admission and apology came during an unprecedented visit to North Korea by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

That has paved the way for Japan to begin talks with North Korea later this month on establishing diplomatic ties.

However, families of the dead abductees say the talks should be put on hold until North Korea comes clean about what happened to their relatives.

Some groups also suspect that many more missing Japanese were in fact kidnapped by North Korean agents.

For its part North Korea has denied that any of the abductees were deliberately killed.

It says one died as a result of suicide during treatment in a mental hospital, two died of asphyxiation from a gas leak and the other five died either from poor health or in road accidents.

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