On Megumi Yokota's 62nd birthday, her mother Sakie says, ``I want her to be alive''

Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korea at the age of 13, will celebrate her 62nd birthday on the 5th. In an interview, her mother, Sakie, 90, said of her daughter, who is still unable to return home, ``I haven't seen anything happening for 50 years.I just want her to be alive.''

I stopped preparing birthday cakes a few years ago. "It's hard to be the same as when you were happy, when you don't have anyone to celebrate with," he said.

She says she spends her days looking at a photo of her husband, Shigeru, who passed away six years ago, and saying, ``Please watch over Megumi until she comes back healthy.'' Although he himself is getting older and sometimes suffers from illness or injury, he continues his activities, saying, ``I have no choice but to do what I can every day.''

Sakie said, ``It's only natural for the country to rescue its citizens who have been abducted. Why can't they do it even if it takes so long? This is a really terrible country,'' Sakie said, calling for an immediate resolution to the abduction issue.