Thailand, N. Korea to cooperate on missing Thai woman again

Nitya Pibulsonggram told reporters after a bilateral meeting with N. Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun in Manila that Pak promised to begin the process of finding out about Anocha Panjoy again, even though North Korea insists she is not in the country.

Anocha was referred in the autobiography of Charles Jenkins, a former U.S. army sergeant who deserted from the army to North Korea and stayed there for almost 40 years until 2004.

Jenkins, now in Japan with his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga who was also abducted by North Korean agents, said in his memoirs he had met a woman believed to be Anocha in North Korea.

Anocha is believed to have been kidnapped from Macao on May 21, 1978 when she was there with other Thai friends for work, according to her elder brother.

The North Korean government has denied the allegation that Anocha was abducted to the country.

Thailand is now seeking help from China, the closest ally of North Korea, and Japan, several of whose nationals were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and1980s. //Kyodo