Taken, Yet Not Forgotten: North Korean Abductions, We Must Find out the Truth about David Louis Sneddon
By Greg Scarlatoiu
President and CEO
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK)
“Since taking office, President Donald J. Trump and his Administration have secured the release of 105 detained Americans held abroad – delivering on their unwavering commitment to leave no American behind.[1]” President Trump is traveling to China today. Among discussion of many other important issues, this could be an opportunity to inquire about the fate of Brigham Young University student David Louis Sneddon, who disappeared in 2004. David is the only American missing in China. North Korean agents are suspected of his abduction from Yunnan Province in China in the summer of 2004.
To President Trump, summit diplomacy with Kim Jong-un appears to be unfinished business. After all, diplomacy is a critical part of the application of the four elements of national power, the DIME (diplomacy, information, military, and economic power). Once other overwhelming U.S. foreign policy priorities are resolved, North Korea will make the headlines again. The odds of persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons continue to be low. “Trust but verify” was President Ronald Reagan’s favorite Russian proverb. Prior to verification, the United States and North Korea have to build trust. A good place to begin would be human rights. In particular, the abductee issue, which Her Excellency Takaichi Sanae, Prime Minister of Japan, takes very seriously, just like many of her predecessors, including former Prime Ministers Abe, Suga, and Koizumi. Bringing closure to the abductee issue could provide North Korea with opportunities to ease sanctions and receive significant humanitarian and economic aid, from Japan in particular, but also possibly from South Korea and other developed nations.
North Korea has abducted foreign nationals because the abductees have produced an impact on relations with the United States, Japan, the ROK, and also on the activities of Bureau 39 (the regime’s main hard currency procuring trade umbrella organization) and other agencies. This has been accomplished by means of having them teach foreign languages to North Korean overseas intelligence agents, and by using their personal information to forge identities for those agents. In some instances, the abduction of culinary and other experts was directly related to Kim Jong-il's love for the “good things in life.”
According to our organization, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), “the number of abductees taken by North Korea […] adds up to 180,108,” as follows: 82,959 South Koreans taken to the North by October 28, 1950; 3,828 South Koreans, including 3,721 fishermen, abducted after the July 27, 1953 Korean War armistice; over 93,000 ethnic Koreans residing in Japan who were lured to North Korea, many of them with Japanese spouses, who were not allowed to leave and became entrapped in the communist country; 17 Japanese nationals; although 5 Japanese abductees were returned to Japan pursuant to the 2002 summit meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and Kim Jong-un, the whereabouts of 12 Japanese nationals taken by North Korea have not yet been clarified;[2] there are 883 cases of disappeared persons whom not only civil society organizations, but also the Japanese Government do not rule out as abductions by North Korea; 200 Chinese nationals, mostly ethnic Koreans; and at least 25 citizens of other countries, whose presence in North Korea has been confirmed by numerous witnesses.[3]
North Korea’s abductions of foreign nationals are not the result of unauthorized rogue agents or isolated operations. They were part of an intentional, state-directed policy authorized and overseen at the highest levels of the regime. At the top of the chain stood North Korea’s supreme leaders who personally authorized and controlled the program.
Japanese government agencies, the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry Report on Human Rights in the DPRK, abductee families’ associations and other civil society organizations have conducted thorough investigations of this tragic violation of fundamental human rights. And yet, the investigation and momentum have stalled, for two fundamental reasons: First, the understandable difficulty in obtaining new information and updates. Second, the very modus operandi of the UN-centered international human rights system. The post-Cold War “global-first” modus operandi has become a system geared on meetings, mandates, process, and moral recital, rather than outcomes.[4] While awareness building is laudable, the debate within the international framework is often ceremonial, ritualistic, and ineffective, focused on process and administrative choreography.
When it comes to human rights, in particular the abduction issue, while global institutions convene and debate, it is truly political will and state capacity that are most needed. To resolve the abductee issue, an action-oriented coalition of like-minded nations is essential. Civil society organizations must be involved. And while bilateral and multilateral diplomacy will continue to be critical and Japan will continue to play a leading role on this issue, cooperation among intelligence and law enforcement agencies could create new momentum by reviewing and reinterpreting archived information, consulting previously untapped sources, coordinating with similar agencies in countries that have been related to abduction operations, and combining geospatial and human intelligence.
Despite difficulties, since the United Nations’ (UN) Commission of Inquiry (COI) February 2014 report on North Korean human rights abuses, the Government of Japan and like-minded allies have continued to champion efforts for the international community to address the abduction issue.
Every year, the UN addresses the issue of North Korean abductions. While the issue of abductions had been addressed in resolutions prior to 2014, in the years following the COI report, the issue has consistently been in focus. The April 2015 resolution adopted by the UNHCR reiterated previous concerns about the issue of abductions but highlighted developments that had been made, such as the May 2014 talks between North Korea and Japan.[5]
However, the April 2017 resolution expressed ‘grave concern’ at the lack of progress made on the abduction issue. Following this lack of action, the UNHCR stressed the need for North Korea to return the abductees immediately.[6] The December 28, 2020 resolution adopted by the UNGA expressed grave concern and the importance of the issue of international abductions and the return of all abductees.[7] Within the same month, an informal UN Security Council consultation on the human rights situation in North Korea was held. The December 16, 2021 resolution adopted by the UNGA condemned the systematic abduction, denial of repatriation, and subsequent enforced disappearance of persons [… and] called upon North Korea to urgently resolve these issues.[8]
The Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the DPRK, Dr. Elizabeth Salmón, expressed concern about systematic abductions. Her 2024 report urged the DPRK to release abducted individuals and called for international cooperation to hold the state accountable.[9]
Actions by the Government of Japan Since 2014
With the support of like-minded democracies, the Government of Japan has taken the lead on the abduction issue since the 2014 UN COI report. On December 1, 2016 a UN panel discussion addressed “The Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” [10] On November 16, 2018, the Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK was adopted at the Third Committee of the 73rd Session of the United Nations Assembly (Statement by Foreign Minister Taro Kono).[11]
On February 17, 2019 A Message to the Leader of North Korea was formulated by the Association of Families of Victims (AFVKN) and National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN).[12] The Government of Japan (GoJ) has raised the abduction issue bilaterally, in talks with the U.S., the ROK, China, and Russia.[13] The GoJ has also approached the abduction issue multilaterally asking for full understanding and cooperation on the matter [e.g. G7 Cornwall Summit].[14] The GoJ emphasizes the abduction issue annually during North Korean Human Rights Abuses Awareness Week (December 10-16).[15] The GoJ has also held UN symposia in-person or online, highlighting the issue at the UN, together with like-minded member states. On February 28, 2022 The Headquarters for the Abduction Issue contributed an opinion article to the New York Times to deepen international understanding.[16] Most recently, the GOJ contributed an article to the Washington Post, highlighting “a catchphrase coined in August 2025 by Japanese junior high school students […]: Living in fear every day for forty-seven years.”[17]
Actions by Other States Affected Since 2014
North Korea has attempted to abduct citizens from at least 14 countries: South Korea, Thailand, Romania, Italy, Lebanon, China, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Guinea, Jordan, Singapore, and France. Yet, most of these countries do not have any information on who was abducted or where in North Korea they are today.[18] Once in North Korea, the abductees are forced to act as language and cultural teachers to train spies in the country or as wives to non-Korean defectors.[19] While the GoJ has conducted the most effort towards the issue, some states involved have produced their own responses.
The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has continually raised the abduction issue with North Korea, for example at the Inter-Korean Summit in April 2018.[20] In December 2019 at the Japan-ROK Summit, President Moon Jae-in made clear the country’s commitment to emphasize the issue in talks with North Korea.[21]
Thailand has also addressed the abduction issue. Anocha Panjoi, a Thai citizen, was abducted from Macau in 1978.[22] In 2014, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs probed North Korea. For the first time, North Korea promised to carry out an investigation.[23] Yet, since this, little progress has been made. Panjoi’s nephew, Banjong Panchoi, continues to pressure the Thai government to address her case.
Even Romania, a former communist fraternal ally of North Korea, has been touched by abductions. Doina Bumbea, a Romanian citizen, was abducted in 1978 and passed away in North Korea in 1997.[24] In 2014, Bumbea’s brother, Gabriel Bumbea, attended a meeting at the UNHCR. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania has continually been made aware of the abduction by the work of Gabriel Bumbea, a forceful response is yet to be seen.
In the United States, David Sneddon, Brigham Young University (BYU) student, is believed to have been abducted by North Korea in 2004 while traveling in China.[25] On September 28th, 2016, the US House of Representatives unanimously voted to reopen the investigation into Sneddon.[26] They then did so again on November 29th, 2018.[27] David Sneddon’s family continues to advocate for more action to be taken. Some sources indicated that Sneddon might have been the personal English tutor of Kim Jong-un.[28]
The European Union has continued to promote human rights in North Korea. In April 2022, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution regarding the human rights situation in North Korea. The EP remarked that North Korea denies basic human rights by abducting foreign nationals.[29] In July 2023, at the annual EU-Japan Summit, a joint statement was produced which stated, “we insist that North Korea respect and fulfill human rights, by resolving the abductions issue immediately”.[30] In June 2024, the EU co-hosted an online symposium at the UN on the abduction issue alongside Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.[31]
Under three Presidents, the United States has also continued to stay active on the issue. On April 28, 2015, President Obama held a Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Abe of Japan on the issue.[32] On March 31, 2016, President Obama, President Park Geun-Hye, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave remarks on the abduction issue after their trilateral meeting. The issue featured prominently during the first Trump Administration as well, especially between 2017 and 2019. Various Japan-U.S. telephone summit talks were conducted as well as an April 9, 2017 Japan-U.S. Summit].[33] On May 27, 2019, both President Trump and Prime Minister Abe met with Japanese families of those taken by North Korea.[34]
Between 2021 and 2024, under President Biden, Japan and the United States held a summit meeting on April 16, 2021. Then Prime Minister Suga, a former GoJ Minister for Abductions, asked for continued support and understanding for the resolution of the abduction issue.[35] On May 23, 2022 President Joe Biden met with families of abductees.[36] On March 14, 2022, the families of abductees met with then U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.[37] On February 13, 2024, a courtesy call from Ambassador Julie Turner, then U.S. Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues also addressed abductions.[38] On April 18, 2024 the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea met with Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, then U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York City.[39]
Under the current Trump administration, focusing on the abduction issue would provide an opportunity to reinforce trilateral coordination with Japan and South Korea. It would also provide North Korea with a chance to build trust through bringing closure and resolution to an issue with an expiration date. Only two parents of known Japanese abductees are still alive. The time to act is now.
In the United States, we also have a task list. Congress must reauthorize the North Korean Human Rights Act. The reauthorization is long overdue, and the North Korean human rights crisis continues. The United States may have had too many special envoys, but the U.S. Department of State Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights is a position we need. Not only for the U.S. alliance with Japan and South Korea. But also, for the security of Indo-Pacific allies, friends, and partners, and the security of the people of the United States. Ultimately, the mission must be to bring North Korea into the international community of law-abiding nations, and prevent it from proliferating instability and violence to the Middle East and Europe. Resolving the abductee issue provides that opportunity.
[1] “Promise Made, Promise Kept: President Trump Brings Another American Home.” White House Press Release. March 25, 2026. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/03/promise-made-promise-kept-president-trump-brings-another-american-home/Accessed May 9, 2026.
[2] “Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea.” The Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan. https://www.rachi.go.jp/en/ratimondai/index.html. Accessed May 9, 2026.
[3] Yamamoto, Yoshi. “Taken! North Korea’s Criminal Abduction of Citizens of Other Countries.” Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. May 2011. https://www.hrnk.org/documentations/taken/.
[4] Schadlow, Nadia. “The Globalist Delusion: Why America Must Build a New Operating System.” Foreign Affairs. March/April 2026. Published on February 17, 2026. Accessed February 24, 2026.
[5] United Nations Human Rights Council. Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council: Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A/HRC/RES/28/22, April 8, 2015. https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/RES/28/22
[6] United Nations Human Rights Council. Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council: Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A/HRC/RES/34/24, April 3, 2017. https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/RES/34/24
[7] United Nations General Assembly. Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council: Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A/RES/75/190, December 28, 2020. https://seoul.ohchr.org/en/node/402
[8] United Nations General Assembly. Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council: Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A/RES/76/177, 16 December 2021. https://seoul.ohchr.org/en/node/401.
[9] United Nations. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. A/79/235, September 13, 2024. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g14/138/94/pdf/g1413894.pdf.
[10] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. “Panel Discussion: ‘the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’” 2016. https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/a_o/na/kp/page3e_000629.html.
[11] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. “Adoption of the Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the Third Committee of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (Statement by Foreign Minister Taro Kono),” 2018. https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press4e_002222.html.
[12] “A Message to the Leader of North Korea from the Association of Families of Victims (AFVKN) and National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN),” February 17, 2019, http://www.sukuukai.jp/img2/MessageToNorthKoreaLeader_20190217_en.pdf.
[13] Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan. Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea: For Their Immediate Return!. November 2021, p.13 https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000433596.pdf
[14] Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan. Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea: For Their Immediate Return!. November 2021, p.12 https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000433596.pdf
[15] Ibid, p.16-17
[16] The New York Times. “Bring Them Home: Abductions by North Korea Are a Universal Human Rights Issue,” The New York Times, February 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/japan-cabinet-office/bring-them-home.html.
[17] The Washington Post. “Living in fear every day for forty-seven years.” The Government of Japan, March 3, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/advertising/the-government-of-japan/abductions-of-japanese-citizens-by-north-korea-2026/.
[18] Kirkpatrick, Melanie. "Thousands Taken: Kidnappings by North Korea’s Kim Dynasty Continue for Half a Century." Hudson Institute, June 24, 2020. https://www.hudson.org/human-rights/thousands-taken-kidnappings-by-north-korea-s-kim-dynasty-continue-for-half-a-century.
[19] United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: The Enforced Disappearance of Persons in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. March 28, 2023: p. 19.
[20] Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan. Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea: For Their Immediate Return!. November 2021. https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000433596.pdf
[21] Ibid.
[22] Tahara, Norimasa. “Abduction of Thai Woman Far from Resolution” The Japan News. December 7, 2020. https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20201207-185465/
[23] Sutthavong, Ariane. "Govt Urged to Press Pyongyang on Missing Abductee." Bangkok Post. November 21, 2016. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1140353/govt-urged-to-press-pyongyang-on-missing-abductee
[24] Fowler, Jonathan. “N. Korea kidnap: victim’s brother wants Pyongyang to come clean” AFP. March 17, 2014. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/n-korea-kidnap-victims-brother-wants-pyongyang-come-164035300.html
[25] Ibid.
[26] Stewart, Chris. "Text - H.Res.891 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for other purposes". United States Congress. September 28, 2016. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/891/text
[27] Lee, Mike "Text - S.Res.92 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): A resolution expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for other purposes". United States Congress. November 29, 2018 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/92/text
[28] Garcia, Feliks. “David Sneddon: Student missing for 12 years was 'kidnapped to teach English to Kim Jong-un'” The Independent. September 2, 2016.
[29] European Parliament. European Parliament Resolution of 7 April 2022 on the Human Rights Situation in North Korea, Including the Persecution of Religious Minorities. (2022/2620(RSP)). April 7, 2022. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0123_EN.pdf
[30] Council of the European Union EU-Japan Summit 2023: Joint Statement. July 13, 2023. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/07/13/eu-japan-summit-2023-joint-statement/
[31] UN Web TV. The Online Symposium in the UN on the Abductions Issue. June 21, 2024. https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1c/k1ccqdn8dr
[32] “Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Joint Press Conference,” obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. Office of the Press Secretary, April 28, 2015. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/28/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-abe-japan-joint-press-confere.
[33] “Japan-U.S. Summit Telephone Talk,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, April 9, 2017. https://www.mofa.go.jp/na/na1/us/page3e_000680.html.
[34] “Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Abe in Meeting with Japanese Families of Those Abducted by North Korea – the White House,” trumpwhithouse.archives.gov, 2019. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-abe-meeting-japanese-families-abducted-north-korea/.
[35] “Japan-US Summit Meeting,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, April 16, 2021, https://www.mofa.go.jp/page4e_001123.html.l
[36] “Meeting with the Families of Abductees by North Korea and U.S. President Joe Biden,” rachi.go.jp (Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan, May 23, 2022), https://www.rachi.go.jp/en/archives/2022/0523meeting.html.
[37] “The Families of Abductees by North Korea Met with U.S. Ambassador to Japan H.E Mr. Rahm Emanuel.,” rachi.go.jp (Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan, March 14, 2024), https://www.rachi.go.jp/en/archives/2022/0314meeting.html.
[38] “Courtesy Call on State Minister Tsuge by Ambassador Julie Turner, Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues of the United States,” mofa.go.jp (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, February 13, 2024), https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/pressite_000001_00151.html.
[39] “Meeting between the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea and Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the United Nations,” rachi.go.jp (Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan, April 18, 2024), https://www.rachi.go.jp/en/archives/2024/0418meeting.html.
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