Hitomi Soga was 19 years old on an August evening when she and her mother were abducted from Sado Island by three men. According to accounts detailed by the BBC, Soga spent the next 24 years detained in North Korea, where she was eventually forced to marry a defected U.S. soldier before she was finally allowed to return to Japan in 2002.
The Abduction on Sado Island
The incident occurred as Soga and her mother, Miyoshi, walked home from shopping on the Japanese island of Sado. According to Soga’s accounts detailed by the BBC, three men approached from behind, forced substances over their mouths, and placed bags over their heads. Soga was transferred onto a boat and eventually taken to North Korea, marking the beginning of a decades-long state-sponsored abduction program conducted during the 1970s and 1980s.
Japan has officially identified at least 17 citizens abducted by North Korean agents between 1977 and 1983. Intelligence analysts have long theorized that Pyongyang targeted Japanese citizens to use them as live instructors to train intelligence agents in Japanese language and cultural norms for covert infiltration missions.
Captivity and Forced Marriage to Charles Jenkins
For the first two years of her captivity, Soga was held in a military barracks without knowing the whereabouts of her mother. According to historical accounts, North Korean authorities never confirmed whether her mother entered the country, and Miyoshi remains missing.
In 1980, Soga was ordered to marry Charles Robert Jenkins, a U.S. Army sergeant who had deserted his unit and crossed the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea in 1965. The marriage of a Japanese abductee and an American defector served as a high-profile propaganda tool for the North Korean regime.
Despite the lack of choice in the union, the couple grew close and had two daughters. Life under strict regime surveillance offered virtually no entertainment or professional freedom. Soga spent her days cultivating vegetables and managing the daily anxieties of isolation.
The 2002 Summit and Return to Japan
The family’s routine fractured in 2002 during a landmark Pyongyang summit between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. During the talks, Kim admitted that North Korea had abducted 13 Japanese citizens, stating that only five were still alive.
That same year, Soga was permitted to travel to Japan for what was initially planned as a short visit. She reunited with her sister and father, who had spent decades waiting and searching for her. Choosing to remain in Japan, Soga was separated from her husband and daughters for another two years while diplomatic and legal negotiations played out regarding Jenkins’ military status.
In 2004, Jenkins traveled to Japan after pleading guilty in a U.S. military court-martial in Yokosuka to desertion and aiding the enemy, serving 25 days of a 30-day sentence. The family settled together on Sado Island.
Activism and the Ongoing Search for Answers
Following Jenkins’ death in Japan in 2017, Soga dedicated her life to campaigning for the repatriation of all remaining abductees held in North Korea. She continues to press governments for answers regarding her mother, maintaining that every day remains critical for those still trapped.
“I think she would say: ‘If she is fighting and never gives up, then I will do the same,'” Soga told the BBC regarding her enduring hope for her mother.
Related reading