The
government plans to broadcast its shortwave radio program aimed at
Japanese abductees in North Korea on more frequencies in the next fiscal
year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The
program, “Furusato no Kaze” (“Wind from the Homeland”), is broadcast in
Japanese and Korean, and includes information on Japanese policy on
North Korea and the abduction issue, messages from relatives and friends
of the abductees, and familiar Japanese songs, according to the
government website on the issue.
Suga
told a news conference Monday that the government’s abduction issue
headquarters has requested that the necessary funds to add broadcast
frequencies be included in the fiscal 2017 budget.
“The
government values this broadcast as part of our efforts so that the
abductees can return home as soon as possible,” Suga said.
The
program, updated weekly, consists of roughly 30 minutes of content in
each language and is aired daily on a number of shortwave frequencies at
alternate times.
