Yaeko Taguchi (Japanese: 田口八重子; Taguchi Yaeko; born August 10, 1955) is a Japanese citizen, one of several kidnapped by North Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
She worked as a bar hostess in Tokyo to raise her two children, a one year old son and three year old daughter, after divorcing her husband. She went missing in June 1978, at the age of 22, after dropping her children off at day care.
She was forced to help train North Korean spy Kim Hyon Hui, the surviving bomber of Korean Air Flight 858. In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had died on July 30, 1986. Kim Hyon Hui testified Taguchi was given the Korean name Lee Un Hae (李恩恵, 리은혜) in North Korea. Kim said Taguchi often wept when telling her how much she missed her children.
Her children were raised by her siblings in Japan. Her son Koichiro was raised by her brother Shigeo Izuka and his wife, while her daughter was adopted by her older sister after her ex-husband was banned from visiting. When they were adults, Shigeo told them that they were in fact Taguchi's children. Her son, an engineer at an information technology company in Tokyo, went public in 2004 claiming that claims of her death were "nonsense", and he wanted her returned. Shigeo became Chair of the Association of NARKN along with the Yokota family.
In 2008, Taguchi's son Koichiro Izuka said:
| “ | I was separated from my mother just 30 years ago when I was 1 year and four months old. Therefore I don't remember my mother's warmth, voice, or smell. We want to return to being an ordinary family, and regain a part of the time lost over the last 30 years. | ” |
In March 2009, Kim Hyon Hui met Yaeko Taguchi's son Koichiro Izuka in Busan, South Korea. Kim told Izuka she believes Taguchi is still alive. Izuka said, "I received evidence that my mother is certainly alive. I have new hope for our rescue efforts.". In October 2011, South Korean intelligence agencies reported they believed dozens of South Korean and Japanese abduction victims were moved to Wonhwa-ri in South Pyongan Province; this group may have included Taguchi and her second husband Tadaaki Hara.
Taguchi was played by Mayumi Sada in the 2006 NTV television movie Saikai ~Yokota Megumi-san no Negai~. A Japanese documentary about Kim Hyun-hui's life featured her meeting Yaeko and how she sings lullabies to her children. Her son Koichiro Izuka wrote his book When My Mother was Kidnapped I was One about how he was adopted by his uncle as a baby and struggled for 20 years to see his mother again. It was adapted as a manga authored by Souichi Mato, who wrote about Karou Haisuke's and Megumi Yokota's lives in North Korea.
Her fate in North Korea is unknown, but the Japanese government believed that Taguchi may still have been alive in 2000.
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