Shigeru Yokota (R) and his wife Sakie, the parents of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, speaks at a press conference in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, on Nov. 15, 2017, the day their daughter was abducted by North Korea 40 years ago at age 13. (Kyodo)

TOKYO - Shigeru Yokota, a central figure in efforts to bring back Japanese nationals who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, among them his daughter Megumi, died Friday, his family said. He was 87.