Soga, a nurse, was returning home from shopping with her mother Miyoshi, 46, when they were abducted from her hometown of Mano-cho, now part of the city of Sado, Niigata, on August 12, 1978, and taken to North Korea to train agents in Japanese customs and language.

[2][3][4] Soga was one of a group of five Japanese abductees whom North Korea allowed to visit their homeland in September 2002.

On July 9, 2004, Soga was reunited with her husband and two daughters in Jakarta, Indonesia, which had been chosen as a neutral venue to allay fears that Jenkins would be arrested.

According to media reports, the family settled in Soga's hometown of Mano, on Sado Island.

[7] In October 2012, she reportedly pleaded with the North Korean government for the release of her mother and other abductees.