Five Japanese kidnapped 25 years ago by North Korean spies returned today in the country’s most emotional homecoming since the end of the Second World War.

The families of Japanese kidnapped by North Korea today demanded their loved ones return home, despite their video-taped claims that they are happy in the reclusive communist state and do not want to leave.

Amid cries of outrage in the media, Japan today said it will push North Korea to allow several people abducted by North Korean spies decades ago to return home as soon as possible and to conduct a thorough investigation into why they were taken.