Fuji TV interview

[thomas]

Interview of Yokota's daughter was not propaganda: Fuji TV

Fuji Television Network Inc on Saturday defended broadcasting an interview of the daughter of a Japanese national North Korea abducted 25 years ago, saying the footage was not used for North Korean propaganda. "We have never been involved in North Korean propaganda and we will not be in the future," said a statement released by the private broadcaster. On Friday evening, Fuji TV aired footage of the exclusive interview with Kim Hye Gyong, 15. Her mother, Megumi Yokota, was abducted at age 13 in November 1977 from the city of Niigata, Niigata Prefecture. North Korea has listed Yokota as dead.

Fuji TV and two national Japanese dailies conducted the one-hour interview with Kim at a Pyongyang hotel Friday afternoon. Immediately after airing the footage in a special two-hour program, Fuji TV received criticism from viewers saying the network was used for propaganda, Fuji TV said. The network said it was also denounced for posing "inappropriate" questions, such as asking the young girl whether she knew her mother was abducted from Japan to North Korea and what she knew about the relationship between the two countries.

The statement said the interview was realized after we asked Pyongyang for permission to conduct it so as to produce new revelations. "The stance will not change as we are making coverage and reporting news by understanding the feelings and situation of abductees and their families," said the statement, which was released after Megumi's parents criticized the coverage at a news conference Saturday. Toru Hasuike, whose younger brother Kaoru recently returned to Japan for the first time since being abducted in 1978, also criticized the media coverage. "It is so obvious that the interview was orchestrated by North Korean authorities," Hasuike said.

"It was an attempt by North Korea to dismantle a support group of families advocating that abductees return to Japan," he added. Hasuike warned the media that five abductees currently in Japan can also watch such coverage. "It is possible that our efforts to try to convince them (to return to Japan permanently) may fail," he said. Pyongyang told the Japanese government that Megumi Yokota married a North Korean man, gave birth to Kim, and committed suicide in 1993. (Kyodo News)

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=236095

Has anyone in Japan seen that interview?

 

[moyashi]

Hehe, I did. Like what else is new!?!

The trolls on JT did a good job of blasting Fuji TV. Sure North Korea was propaganda mongering, but the questions were pissing me off. What I forgot that was mentioned by JT poster was that her face was shown.

She's under age. In Japan, her face and voice would be masked. She's North Korean (aka GAIJIN) by most Japanese eyes so showing her face is like OK!

jerks ...
Hey, did you know your father is really the milkman?
Did you know you're mother was first a lesbian then a hooker before she married your father?
Did you know ALL this?
jerks ...

Too bad these jerks weren't the ones who got abducted!

 

[thomas]

At least she's a "haafu", but probably that makes matters even worse.

 

[moyashi]

I don't know ...
The interview if you saw it you might understand. Here we have a 15 year old answering just as good as or even better than Clinton did concerning Lewinsky. Who took right hooks fully on the chin and lets only the slightest tear show in her eye when the fool reporters went on all about her mother, grand parents and father. A young girl who's father is no where to be during the interview.

Something was just weird about the whole thing. Even if she was being used and had been brain washed, she shouldn't have to face "did you know your mother is Japanese" questions.

 

[thomas]

First encounter with a blood-thirsty beast called journalism... sad.

 

[moyashi]

yep.

I checked with some students on the minor bit. They all agreed. The Media and Japan has written her off as Korean. Go figure.

 

[thomas]

Reported by Mainichi News, Oct. 30:

Megumi musume interview a ratings winner

Fuji TV Network's controversial broadcast of an interview with the daughter of one of the Japanese abducted by North Korea turned out to be a massive ratings winner in the Kanto Region, according to Video Research Ltd.

"Namida no Message" (Message of Tears), the two-hour long news show broadcast from 9 p.m. on Oct. 25, earned Fuji average ratings of 26.3 percent.

The show focused mainly on Kim Hye Gyong, the 15-year-old daughter of Megumi Yokota, who was tragically kidnapped by North Korean agents as a 13-year-old in 1977 and, according to Pyongyang, died of suicide in 1993.

Fuji came under fire for asking excessively probing questions of Hye Gyong, who cried on camera and apparently learned for the first time from reporter's questions that her mother was a kidnapped Japanese.

In the three days after the program was shown, Fuji was swamped with messages about the show and the mass of calls eventually caused a breakdown in the network's telephone switchboard. It received 16,500 messages about the show and had dealt with about 1,500 when the phones went out of service.