Jill N. Tokuda

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Madam Speaker, imagine sending your 13-year-old daughter to school and waiting nearly 50 years for her to come home. That is what Sakie Yokota has endured since North Korean agents abducted her daughter, Megumi, in 1977. As a parent, that thought is absolutely heartbreaking. I think about my own sons. I imagine them growing up without me at an age so young that, after all those years, they might not even recognize my face. Koichiro Iizuka knows what that is like. His mother was abducted when he was just 1 year old. There are 17 Japanese citizens officially recognized as having been abducted by North Korea. While 5 returned home, 12 remain unaccounted for. Their families have grown old waiting. Many passed away. Sakie is now 90 years old. Every year without answers is another year stolen from them. This is not only Japan's tragedy. David Sneddon, an American college student who disappeared while hiking in China in 2004, is also believed by his family and many others to have been abducted by North Korea. His fate remains unknown. These cases are a warning. When governments are allowed to make people disappear, no family and no country are beyond their reach. Japan is one of America's closest friends and allies. If President Trump has an opportunity to speak to Kim Jong-un, he must raise these abductions directly. He must press for the return of every abductee and a full, credible accounting for those who remain missing, including David Sneddon. Diplomacy cannot be limited to weapons, sanctions, and security agreements. It must also be about human beings. Democracies must stand together in defense of our people and their most basic human rights. Time has already taken far too much from these families. We cannot allow silence to take away their last hope for answers.