Japan calls on Belarus to fight dictatorship

Japan has asked Belarus to back up its stance regarding human rights violations in North Korea, Japanese MP Esionori Ono said when addressing the Belarusian parliament on October 23. Japan and Belarus should join efforts in fighting against human rights violations in North Korea.

North Korea has denied any human rights violation allegations apart from kidnappings of Japanese nationals.

According to some estimates, North Korea's secutiry agents kidnapped between 70 and 80 Japanese citizens in 1970s. 13 cases were acknowledged by the North Korean authorities. Tokyo has been trying to find out the fate of several kidnapped Japanese, but North Korea has claimed it knows nothing about them.