Published on August 14, 2019.
This essay criticizes remarks made by Keio University professor emeritus Masao Okonogi and Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nakanishi in a Mainichi Shimbun roundtable discussion on North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens.
It strongly criticizes arguments that belittle the abduction issue as merely a matter of “the families’ requests,” call for normalization of relations or denuclearization-related aid before resolving the abduction issue, and thereby align with North Korean information operations.

August 14, 2019.
What kind of minds do Professor Emeritus Masao Okonogi of Keio University and Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi of Kyoto University have, appearing in the pages of The Mainichi Shimbun and shamelessly speaking on behalf of North Korea?
I despise Kyoto University merely because Hiroshi Nakanishi is making such remarks.
This is a chapter I published on August 10, 2018, under that title.
The following is the continuation of the previous chapter.
A Mainichi roundtable of intellectuals where remarks benefiting the enemy were made.
Therefore, if the U.S.-North Korea talks over nuclear dismantlement show a certain degree of progress, North Korea will certainly approach Japan next.
It may happen as early as August.
North Korea has already begun preparing for it.
They understand that they cannot extract money from Japan with a zero answer on the abduction issue.
However, the operations departments and others must not want to return alive Megumi Yokota and the others, who know many secrets related to their operations, namely the eight people whom they unilaterally notified in 2002 as having “died.”
Therefore, they will intensify advance information operations claiming that Megumi and the others are dead.
That has already begun.
Also, domestically, when Japan-North Korea relations begin to move, pro-North Korean forces that have remained quiet for a while will conduct campaigns saying that dead people cannot come back to life, that nuclear abandonment alone would be a major achievement, and that Japan should provide compensation without being fixated on the abduction issue.
How to suppress such movements will be the key to realizing the absolutely non-negotiable task of the immediate and collective return of all victims.
Therefore, I would like to point out dangerous arguments and trends that appeared immediately after the U.S.-North Korea summit and heighten vigilance.
First are the remarks made by Professor Emeritus Masao Okonogi of Keio University and Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi of Kyoto University in The Mainichi Shimbun’s roundtable of intellectuals on June 14.
Mr. Okonogi criticized the Japanese government’s policy of normalizing relations only after resolving the abduction issue and the nuclear and missile issues, and said as follows that normalization should come first.
In doing so, he belittles the abduction issue as a matter of “the families’ requests” and ignores its essence as a violation of sovereignty and human rights by a state crime.
“Japan’s current policy is to normalize diplomatic relations after resolving the abduction issue and the nuclear and missile issues.
The nuclear and missile issues will not be resolved unless North Korea takes action.
On the abduction issue, the requests of the victims’ families are extremely strong.
It will undoubtedly become a difficult situation.
North Korea’s order of priority is the reverse of Japan’s, and it first demands normalization of diplomatic relations.
Japan needs to be prepared to readjust its order of priority.”
Mr. Nakanishi questions the government’s assumption that the victims are alive, and despite there being no evidence whatsoever, he says that Japan should accept their deaths.
Furthermore, he opposes the government policy of not providing economic aid without resolving the abduction issue, and presses for economic aid for denuclearization to be implemented before the abduction issue is resolved.
“Because North Korea cannot be trusted, I can understand to some extent the negotiating method based on the premise that the abductees are alive.
But if, unfortunately, they are dead, Japanese diplomatic officials need to make clear how the matter will be settled.
In the end, Japan will likely return to the basic spirit of the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration, namely resolving pending issues and normalizing diplomatic relations.
Parallel to normalization talks, is it not the best option now conceivable for Japan to play a certain role in denuclearization?
If economic aid is provided without resolving the abduction issue, public opposition will be strong, but denuclearization has legitimacy and will become an important channel related to the Korean Peninsula.”
If such voices grow louder, the position of Prime Minister Abe, who insists that there will be no aid without resolving the abduction issue, and that resolution means the immediate and collective return of all victims, will inevitably be weakened.
These are grave remarks that benefit the enemy.
＊Even so, The Mainichi Shimbun, which should have died long ago, still exists, and in its pages Professor Emeritus Masao Okonogi of Keio University and Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi of Kyoto University shamelessly speak on behalf of North Korea.
What kind of intellects do these professors possess?
I despise Keio University merely because Masao Okonogi is making such remarks, and I despise Kyoto University merely because Hiroshi Nakanishi is making such remarks.＊
This article continues.