Tokyo
Japan threatened economic sanctions against North Korea this week after the totalitarian country tried to pass off random bones and ashes as the remains of a Japanese prisoner. The North Korean government kidnapped Megumi Yokota in 1977, when she was 13, and used her as a language instructor for North Korean spies. In what was supposed to be a goodwill gesture, the regime presented Japanese diplomats last week with a box of remains said to be those of Yokota, but tests showed they belonged to several different people. The Japanese, who venerate their dead, were appalled. “We are so stunned at this development,” said Tokyo’s Asahi Shimbun in an editorial, “that we cannot adequately express our indignation.”
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