October 2nd discussion item

Every culture has its scary stories, like the ones told children to keep them from being over-trusting of strangers for example. They mostly trace back to the real need in times before to not wander alone at night and to protect the group from predators (two and four -legged). But here is a continuing reminder that when you have neighbors like North Korea, the scary stories can be all-too-real.

Kyoudou News with the latest on the abductee negotiations

This story got a little play in the world media a couple years back when five of the victims were returned, but the issue is still of burning importance as it is seen as unresolved.

With the usual caveats about Wiki-p (i.e. check all the sources and ignore anything without citation) *here* is a fair summary of the situation regarding Japanese nationals that were kidnapped. There is lots more if one wishes to investigate South Koreans abducted by the North, or to look at the incredible deception that was done back in the late 1950's and 60's to lure large number of Korean-Japanese families to move to North Korea's "Worker's Paradise".

Open Ground: Is this an issue of sufficient merit that it deserves the place it takes beside de-nuclearization in the Six-Nations Negotiations? Or is this something where International interests should trump any moral imperative to resolve this? Is the U.S.A. sidelining this issue (just like it does about the Northern Territories when negotiating with Russia) because getting involved in any measurable way is far more trouble than it is worth? Or maybe you have something else to say about the whole matter...

By all means, begin!