Kawasaki, Kanagawa Pref., Nov. 6 (Jiji Press)--Sakie Yokota, the 90-year-old mother of Megumi, who was abducted by North Korea 49 years ago, said Thursday that she wants to see her daughter even just for once before she dies.

"My child, who was 13 years old, is now 62. It's been long," Sakie told a press conference in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, referring to her daughter, who was taken away on her way back from junior high school in the central Japan city of Niigata on Nov. 15, 1977.

"It feels like the flame had gone out. It's hopeless," Sakie said. "I want to see her even just for once before I die."

Sakie brought a comb she said Megumi gave her father, Shigaru, as his birthday present on the day before she was abducted.

"She said, 'Father, look nice,'" the mother recalled. "My husband carried it with him all the time." Shigeru died at age 87 in 2020.

Sakie Yokota, the mother of Megumi, abducted by North Korea 49 years ago, speaks at a press conference in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, on Thursday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]