Contentious Japan/DPRK abduction issue explained

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit the United States on April 17-20. During his talks with President Donald Trump, he plans to bring up the issue of the alleged Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) abduction of Japanese nationals.

Abe said he would ask Trump to bring up the abduction matter during the US president's proposed summit with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

Here are two infographics to help explain the contentious issue.

CGTN Photo

Why Abe wants to resolve the issue

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, plagued by accusations of cronyism and coverups, fell to 26.7 percent in a survey by private broadcaster Nippon TV released on Sunday, the lowest since he took office in December 2012.

Shigeru Yokota (3rd R) and his wife Sakie (C), parents of Megumi Yokota who was allegedly abducted by DPRK agents in 1977, are surrounded by members of the media after a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, July 4, 2014. /VCG Photo

More: How in danger is Abe amid ongoing cronyism scandal?

Abe has said he will not rest until all abductees have come home, making the issue a keystone of his political career.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd R) receives a petition from members of DPRK abduction issue groups at his official residence in Tokyo on July 4, 2014. /VCG Photo

In September 2002, when the former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited DPRK and the DPRK formally recognized the "abduction problem" for the first time and expressed regret, the public support rate of Koizumi government soared.

(Top photo: Misa Morimoto, the 50-year-old identical younger twin of Miho Yamamoto, points at a photograph of her older sister (L) and herself at a high school graduation ceremony in 1982, during an interview with Reuters in Otsuki city, Yamanashi prefecture, July 15, 2014. /VCG Photo )