[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 145 (Tuesday, September 15, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RETURNING JAPANESE CITIZENS ABDUCTED BY NORTH KOREA

  (Ms. Tokuda of Hawaii was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. TOKUDA. Madam Speaker, imagine sending your 13-year-old daughter 
to school and waiting nearly 50 years for her to come home.
  That is what Sakie Yokota has endured since North Korean agents 
abducted her daughter, Megumi, in 1977. As a parent, that thought is 
absolutely heartbreaking.
  I think about my own sons. I imagine them growing up without me at an 
age so young that, after all those years, they might not even recognize 
my face.
  Koichiro Iizuka knows what that is like. His mother was abducted when 
he was just 1 year old.
  There are 17 Japanese citizens officially recognized as having been 
abducted by North Korea. While 5 returned home, 12 remain unaccounted 
for.
  Their families have grown old waiting. Many passed away. Sakie is now 
90 years old. Every year without answers is another year stolen from 
them.
  This is not only Japan's tragedy. David Sneddon, an American college 
student who disappeared while hiking in China in 2004, is also believed 
by his family and many others to have been abducted by North Korea. His 
fate remains unknown.
  These cases are a warning. When governments are allowed to make 
people disappear, no family and no country are beyond their reach.
  Japan is one of America's closest friends and allies. If President 
Trump has an opportunity to speak to Kim Jong-un, he must raise these 
abductions directly. He must press for the return of every abductee and 
a full, credible accounting for those who remain missing, including 
David Sneddon.
  Diplomacy cannot be limited to weapons, sanctions, and security 
agreements. It must also be about human beings. Democracies must stand 
together in defense of our people and their most basic human rights. 
Time has already taken far too much from these families. We cannot 
allow silence to take away their last hope for answers.


               restoring funding for public broadcasting

  Ms. TOKUDA. Madam Speaker, this is not the first time I have taken to 
the floor to talk about Kauai Community Radio, KKCR.
  When Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KKCR 
lost $83,000. I warned then that this wasn't simply about radio 
programming. It was about whether communities would have a trusted 
lifeline when disaster strikes.

  Last week, Hurricane Lowell proved the point. When the storm hit 
Kauai, power went out across the island. Cell service and internet 
became unreliable. Roads were blocked. Trees came down. Communities 
were cut off.
  KKCR stayed on the air. When the power failed, they switched to a 
generator. When the internet went down, they used a donated Starlink 
connection. When trees went down around their North Shore station, they 
kept broadcasting.
  For a time, KKCR was the only station that Kauai could hear. They 
carried updates from the mayor and emergency management officials. They 
relayed calls from listeners who were reporting weather, road 
conditions, and power outages in their neighborhoods. They told people 
where they could find food, ice, water, and help. They played music to 
keep people calm. In the digital age, when clocks and phones had gone 
dark, they even reminded people what time it was.
  KKCR was founded after Hurricane Iniki to provide emergency 
communication. More than three decades later, Hurricane Lowell shows us 
why that mission still matters.
  This is what Congress put at risk when it cut public broadcasting--
not entertainment but a lifeline. We must restore this funding because 
when the next disaster comes, the question is not whether people will 
need KKCR. It is whether KKCR will still be on the air to answer the 
call.

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