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Japan Sanctions Update: North Korea now flatly states that the abduction issue has already been settled. You may recall that North Korea recently “settled” the issue of some of the Japanese citizens it abducted from their homeland by sending the Japanese several sets of remains that turned out not to be those of the abductees. This can only increase the pressure to impose sanctions.

UPDATE: There is some photographic evidence to suggest that two of the hostages P’yang claims are dead, aren’t. What the Mainichi article does not say is when the pictures were taken in relation to the time North Korea claims the abductees died.

UPDATE II: There are serious questions about whether those pictures actually show Japanese abductees.