A brother of a Japanese citizen abducted by North Korean agents 47 years ago called for the abductees’ early return at a rally in Tokyo on Saturday.

Yokota Megumi was kidnapped on November 15, 1977, at the age of 13, on her way home from a high school in the city of Niigata. She turned 60 in October.

Megumi’s younger brother, Yokota Takuya, who heads a family group of abductees, spoke at a rally focused on the abduction issue.

Takuya said that his parents became disconcerted after his sister disappeared, and a heavy atmosphere overwhelmed the family and there was little conversation.

He said his family can only remember Megumi as a 13-year-old girl and can’t imagine what she looks like now in her 60s. Takuya said he just hoped his sister was keeping well.

Referring to last month’s Lower House election, in which the ruling coalition failed to win a majority, he said North Korea was likely trying to figure out who it would negotiate with in future talks.

Takuya said Japan’s political turmoil and stagnation must not delay addressing the abduction issue, which is a human rights violation that “puts the lives of our family members at stake.”

Of the parents of the 12 abductees the Japanese government has acknowledged and remain unaccounted for, Megumi’s mother, Yokota Sakie, and Arimoto Akihiro, the father of abductee Arimoto Keiko, are the only ones still alive.

Sakie is 88 and Akihiro is 96.

Takuya said after the rally that although the two are fine, his mother fell ill and was hospitalized last year, and that their health could deteriorate at any time.

He said he wanted the Japanese government to take the pain and anger of the abductees’ relatives to heart and convey it to the North Korean authorities.