Minister for the Abduction Issue

The Minister for the Abduction Issue (拉致問題担当大臣, rachi mondai tantō daijin) is a member of the Cabinet of Japan responsible for addressing the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. The minister reports to the Headquarters for the Abduction Issue (拉致問題対策本部, rachi mondai taisaku honbu).

As of October 2025, the minister in charge of the abduction issue is Minoru Kihara.

List of ministers

# Image Name Took office Left office Cabinet
21st century
1 Yasuhisa Shiozaki September 26, 2006 August 27, 2007 Shinzō Abe
2 Kaoru Yosano August 27, 2007 September 26, 2007 Shinzō Abe
3 Machimura Nobutaka September 26, 2007 August 2, 2008 Yasuo Fukuda
4 Kyoko Nakayama August 2, 2008 September 24, 2008 Yasuo Fukuda
5 Takeo Kawamura September 24, 2008 September 16, 2009 Tarō Asō
6 Hiroshi Nakai September 16, 2009 September 17, 2010 Yukio Hatoyama
Naoto Kan
7 Minoru Yanagida September 17, 2010 November 22, 2010 Naoto Kan
8 Yoshito Sengoku November 22, 2010 January 14, 2011 Naoto Kan
9 Kansei Nakano January 14, 2011 September 2, 2011 Naoto Kan
10 Kenji Yamaoka September 2, 2011 January 13, 2012 Yoshihiko Noda
11 Jin Matsubara January 13, 2012 October 1, 2012 Yoshihiko Noda
12 Keishu Tanaka October 1, 2012 October 23, 2012 Yoshihiko Noda
13 Osamu Fujimura October 24, 2012 December 26, 2012 Yoshihiko Noda
14 Keiji Furuya December 26, 2012 September 3, 2014 Shinzō Abe
15 Eriko Yamatani September 3, 2014 October 7, 2015 Shinzō Abe
16 Katsunobu Katō October 7, 2015 October 2, 2018 Shinzō Abe
September 11, 2019 October 4, 2021
17 Hirokazu Matsuno October 4, 2021 December 14, 2023 Fumio Kishida
18 Yoshimasa Hayashi December 14, 2023 October 21, 2025 Fumio Kishida
Shigeru Ishiba
19 Minoru Kihara October 21, 2025 Incumbent Sanae Takaichi

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.