Book review: Taking Tokyo to task for poor policy on North Korea’s abductions | NK News
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September 27, 2026Sep 27, 2026

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Book review: Taking Tokyo to task for poor policy on North Korea’s abductions

Impressive Japanese book tells stories of abductees and accuses leaders of prioritizing publicity stunts over diplomacy

An extraordinary new Japanese book illuminates the story of the Japanese abducted by North Korea, telling the stories of the victims and their families in impressive detail and taking to task successive Japanese administrations for choosing publicity stunts over diplomacy.

Over 250 pages, “Solving the Issue of North Korea’s Abductions: What Is the Key to Breaking the Impasse?” (北朝鮮拉致問題の解決:融着を破る鍵とは何か) reviews how Pyongyang’s admitting to the crimes derailed negotiations with Tokyo on normalizing relations, while setting forth the argument that talks are the only path to break the impasse.

Wada Haruki, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and prolific