拉致問題に強い関心を持ち、解決を願う仲間が、英訳してくれました。
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08.8.17水戸集会より 横田早紀江さんの訴え
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Hello - I truly appreciate all of you being here today.
I've heard so many sad stories by the left-behind family members of the abducted, and am now struggling again to understand how and why such horrible deeds were left unnoticed in this country for decades after decades.
When you grow older, you'll find yourself becoming more and more sensitive to, say, glittering of sunlight, wind pressure, and touches of nature. As I walk down the summer streets of the city, the harsh glare of the scorching sunlight brings me back to the days... the summer days, 31 years ago, when my husband and I strayed around the city streets of Niigata, searching desperately for our missing daughter, Megumi.
"Where is Megumi?" We roved around literally everywhere, searching for clues. We would stare at a small mound of soil, wondering, "could she be buried underneath there?" Then several months had passed, and we would look at the piled snow, thinking, "when the snow melts, we could perhaps find her." Sometimes we would gaze at the seashore, worrying if her body was laid somewhere on the seabed.
Thousands after thousands of thoughts have crossed our minds.
While every creature under the sun was filled with happiness and joy, we looked up to the sky, mulling over why we had to bear such deep sorrow.
31 years have come and gone, and still the sun shines on us, with full of sorrow... just like the days when we strayed around the city streets of Niigata in the scorching heat.
Everything was done in the name of the North Korean dictator. Victims were kidnapped from twelve countries, as well as in the Republic of North Korea itself.
If they didn't come to abduct her, my daughter could have become a successful manga artist, just like she always wanted to be.
Or she could have become a singer. Or a computer engineer. She could really have done something for the good of this country.
During the past 31 years, I've heard many stories of abducted youths - young, innocent, treasured, and with full of potential - were taken away, disappeared in the blink of an eye. Today, as I heard about the abducted high-school student, I couldn't help myself but wonder why all those young people had to be victimized. When Megumi disappeared, she was merely a first degree junior-high student. She was so young.
I recall Megumi asking, "mom, do I look like a high-school student?", and I replied, "well, I don't know about that." She was definitely taller than I am, and might have looked a bit older, but I wonder if that was partially the reason why my Megumi was targeted.
I sincerely hope that North Korea would soon come back to its sense, to become a humanistic, democratic nation, with all human beings in the country are guaranteed of their lives in a humane manner, so that God-given freedom can be enjoyed by the people. Even though people's lives can be frugal there, they can at least be thankful to what is given.
But as we speak, the reality is that many people in North Korea are labored to death in the horrible concentration camps. That's what we know from the testimonials of those North Korean defectors.
And as we speak, we, the left-behind family members - regardless of our ethnic background (ethnic Koreans in Japan, or ethnic Japanese in Japan), are compelled to send them massive amount of cash and commodity, year after year, in hope that the kidnapped hostages are given more chances of survival. We are talking decades after decades of struggling and suffering, and I mean this "we" naturally includes Koreans living in Japan.
So we worked our heads off to send money and goods to North Korea. Did our kids receive them? Hardly. Only those high-ranked officials enjoyed it. Oftentimes our kids did not receive a single penny.
Should we allow such a horrible nation with such insane system to exist on earth? Now that the country boasts itself as a nuclear powered nation, shouldn't it be the heart of our serious concern? We are talking a possible planet-scale nuclear catastrophe.
I hereby am hell-bent determined to stop North Korea, neutralize its nuclear force, and rescue as many kidnapped victims as possible.
BRING THEM BACK, I say.
RETURN WHOEVER AND WHATEVER YOU'VE STOLEN FROM US, I say.
We all should say, "JUST SHUT UP AND GIVE'EM BACK."
They really should stop lying, and tell us the truth.
Because we are entitled to know what the hell happened.
As Mr. Araki was saying, "we need to talk." We are not begging for a mere homecoming act, are we? I say we, every single one of us in this country, should shout from the top of our lungs, to "GIVE BACK OUR PRECIOUS THINGS!" (<
Then our determination, our sense of justice, and our strengths shall be heard across the world. Our voices must be heard not only by North Koreans, but also by everyone including people in China, Russia, and South Korea. When they realize "wow, Japan is truly gung-ho determined to take them back", other diplomatic issues will naturally be resolved as well.
But nothing will ever, ever be solved as long as Japan is fixated on "would-you-please", "could-you-please", self-abasing diplomacy. And it's not only about the abduction issue; how much, and how long can we leave all those serious issues piled up unresolved? How many more days should Japan be looked down, snubbed, abused, and ridiculed in this world?
It's not only about Megumi, of course. I wake up every morning, and can't help myself but wonder what this country of ours may become if each one of us leave behind sense of crisis, sense of immediacy.
And every morning, I pray. Hold on, Megumi. Give us a bit more time, and I promise we'll come for you. So help us God, please. We may really need your help, because there are some things in this world we human just can't solve.
For those of you who supported us for eleven long years, I truly appreciate your help and support. Without your help, we could not have continued our enormous rescue mission. Thank you very much for your precious subscriptions in support of our mission. Because of you, we are able to visit various key nations such as America, Switzerland, Korea, and Romania. We truly, truly appreciate you.
In return for all those enormously precious deeds, we dedicate our souls to the upcoming generations. Life isn't long, and we may not live longer, but along with your fathers and mothers, we would like to be there for all those children.
Thank you for your continuous support. (<
