S/ Yokota Sakie, Mother of Megumi / Sixty years old, wow. I can't believe it. I can't imagine (what she's like now). I really feel sorry for her. I just want to do something for her. The family is left feeling weak because it is saddening. All I want is for her to come back. I just want to hug her without saying anything.

Yokota Sakie's daughter Megumi was abducted from Japan to North Korea in 1977 when she was 13 and has not returned.

Sakie spoke to reporters ahead of her daughter's 60th birthday on October 5.

The 88-year-old noted that she does not know how much time she has left to live and urged the Japanese government to work on repatriating abduction victims in any way possible.

North Korean agents abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, but only five of them have been returned to Japan.

Pyongyang claims Megumi has died, but her family rejects the claim.