Politicising the victims of a tragedy: Analysing the discourse on the North Korean abduction issue

Abstract

The abduction of Japanese nationals (rachi mondai 拉致問題) by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s has captured the interest of the Japanese public and it now represents a major source of security concern regarding North Korea, surpassing the missile and nuclear issues. But why the matter has sparked such strong emotional responses? What role did the victims and their families play in its representation? It is interesting to note that the problem started to get serious attention by the Japanese government and the media only in the beginning of the 1990s. On the one hand, the initial lack of interest contributed to highlight national weakness and the fecklessness of Japanese political leaders. On the other hand, it allowed right-wing elements to manipulate the issue and the victims’ families in order to mobilize public sympathy and reorient national policies. The case of Yokota Megumi is emblematic in this sense. Her victimhood has influenced Japanese people’s perception of themselves as well as of the ‘other’, identified with North Korea and portrayed as criminal or irrational, a threat to national security. Thus, this case study further demonstrates how victims of politicized tragedies can play an important role in shaping policy change. In the present study I will argue that organisations such as Kazokukai (Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea), Sukūkai (National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea) and Rachi Giren (Parliamentary League for Early Repatriation of Japanese Citizens Kidnapped by North Korea) have been instrumental in politicising the abduction issue. In order to answer to the research questions, this paper investigates the construction and the politicisation process of the abduction issue discourse by revisionists and nationalist interest groups in Japan after 2002, while taking into account the political and social context. The study applies Foucauldian concepts and discourse analysis on the interviews with the victims’ families and on the content of the official websites run by support organisations and the government. This qualitative method of analysis aims to explore in which way the abduction issue is put into discourse. That means discovering who is speaking and from which position, what viewpoints they hold and which institutions prompt them to speak about it and how the things that are said are put to work and distributed. In order to analyze public opinion and the role played by the media, empirical observation is conducted by using online article databases such as Kikuzo II Visual (Asahi Shimbun database). As for theoretical analysis the study relies mainly on English academic journals. Of particular relevance are the papers written by influential scholars in international relations and political science such as Linus Hagström and Eric Johnston. In order to identify relevant literature about the topic database searches with pre-established keywords like ‘Japanese abduction issue’, ‘politicisation of the abduction issue’, ‘victim politics’, ‘political empathy’ was conducted.