The stories of 12 Japanese abducted by North Korea

FILE - In this undated file photo released by the Tokyo-based National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea, Megumi Yokota, then said to be 13-year-old, is seated at an unknown place in North Korea after her abduction from her hometown in Japan. Yokota is one of the 12 that Japan says North Korea abducted in the 1970s and 80s. In talks with Japan in Beijing on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, North Korea is expected to detail plans to investigate what happened to them, a possible step toward their eventual repatriation to Japan. MISSING: Megumi Yokota, student, AGE WHEN ABDUCTED: 13, HER STORY: The symbol of Japan’s abduction victims, Yokota is widely known for a photo of her in a navy blue school uniform standing under a row of cherry trees in full bloom. She never came home from badminton practice on Nov. 15, 1977, one day after giving her now-81-year-old father a comb on his birthday. A Japanese government website says she was confined in a dark compartment in a boat for nearly two days, crying “mother” and scratching the wall until her nails were nearly peeled off. (AP Photo/National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea, File) FILE - In this undated file photo released by the Tokyo-based National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea, Megumi Yokota, then said to be 13-year-old, is seated at an unknown place in North Korea after her abduction from her hometown in Japan. Yokota is one of the 12 that Japan says North Korea abducted in the 1970s and 80s. In talks with Japan in Beijing on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, North Korea is expected to detail plans to investigate what happened to them, a possible step toward their eventual repatriation to Japan. MISSING: Megumi Yokota, student, AGE WHEN ABDUCTED: 13, HER STORY: The symbol of Japan’s abduction victims, Yokota is widely known for a photo of her in a navy blue school uniform standing under a row of cherry trees in full bloom. She never came home from badminton practice on Nov. 15, 1977, one day after giving her now-81-year-old father a comb on his birthday. A Japanese government website says she was confined in a dark compartment in a boat for nearly two days, crying “mother” and scratching the wall until her nails were nearly peeled off. (AP Photo/National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea, File)

By Associated Press June 30, 2014 5 min read

TOKYO (AP) – A 13-year-old schoolgirl walking home after badminton practice. A 28-year-old restaurant employee sent by his boss to Vienna. A young couple on a date, driving to the beach to see the sunset. They are among at least 17 Japanese – possibly many more than that – who were abducted by North Korea more than three decades ago.

The apparent reasons included training agents in Japanese language and social norms, or stealing identities so the agents could masquerade as Japanese for espionage and terrorism aimed mainly at South Korea.

North Korea allowed five to return in 2002, but the fate of the others remains unclear. In talks with Japan in Beijing on Tuesday, North Korea is expected to detail plans to investigate what happened to them, a possible step toward their eventual repatriation to Japan.

The 12 who Japan says have never come back paint a picture of lives interrupted, as if in mid-sentence, and irrevocably changed. At least three were students in Europe who may have been lured to North Korea by Japanese left-wing radicals. Others were bundled into small boats on the Japanese coast to cross the water to North Korea.

Here are brief descriptions of the 12 missing people, based on information from the Japanese government and support groups for the families of the abductees: