In 1978, Kaoru Hasuike and his girlfriend Yukiko Okudo were snatched by four North Korean agents off a beach near the small Japanese town of Kashiwazaki, thrown into sacks and onto inflatable rafts. “Keep quiet and we won’t hurt you,” the kidnappers told them along the way to their destination: Pyongyang, where they would stay until 2002, pawns in a secretive and brutal program of kidnappings by the DPRK.

Many years later, Hasuike sat down to tell his story – at least part of it – with American journalist Robert Boynton. After many attempts to get in touch with victims