Cash readied for stranded woman
The Foreign Ministry prepared nearly 10 million yen in ransom earlier this month to win the freedom of a Japanese woman stranded in China after fleeing North Korea.
The money, sought by two South Korean men who claimed to have helped the woman escape, was to have come from secret diplomatic funds held by the ministry, government sources said.
--The Asahi Shimbun / 28 Jap 2003
