Eiko Kawasaki, a Korean born in Japan, speaks during an interview in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Kawasaki was born in Japan and lived 43 years in North Korea before defecting. She has not seen her children, still in North Korea, for years. Kawasaki and four other defectors filed a lawsuit against North Korea’s government this week in Tokyo District Court, demanding 500 million yen, or about $5 million, in damages for human rights violations. less
Eiko Kawasaki, a Korean born in Japan, speaks during an interview in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Kawasaki was born in Japan and lived 43 years in North Korea before defecting. She has not seen her children, ... more
Photo: Yuri Kageyama, AP
North Korean defector sues in Japan, alleging rights abuses
TOKYO (AP) — More than 90,000 Koreans in Japan and their families went to North Korea decades ago seeking what the country promised: "paradise on earth."
As North and South Korea make reconciliatory gestures and hundreds of war-separated relatives are reunited, they feel forgotten.
Eiko Kawasaki was born in Japan and lived 43 years in North Korea before defecting. She has not seen her children, still in North Korea, for years.
She and four other defectors filed a lawsuit against North Korea's government this week in Tokyo District Court, demanding 500 million yen, or about $5 million, in damages for human rights violations.