Abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government took place during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been hundreds of others. The North Korean government has officially admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens.
In May 2004, North Korea allowed the five children of two abducted couples to leave North Korea and join their families, who had come back to Japan a year and a half before.
Sakie Yokota, the mother of the abducted girl Megumi Yokota, meets with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House in April 2006.
![Badge worn in support of returning victims to Japan (often worn as lapel pin [ja])](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9C%E3%83%B3%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%82%B8.jpg/500px-%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9C%E3%83%B3%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%82%B8.jpg)
Badge worn in support of returning victims to Japan (often worn as lapel pin [ja])
Shinzo Abe
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Shinzo Abe was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for almost nine years in total. Abe also served as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2005 to 2006 under Junichiro Koizumi and was briefly the opposition leader in 2012.
The Abe family in 1956 (left to right): his mother Yōko, Shinzo at the age of two, his father Shintaro and his elder brother Hironobu
Shinzo (center) with his family and grandfather Nobusuke Kishi (4th left), who influenced Abe's beliefs
Abe (pictured in 2002) was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993.