TOKYO —The Japanese government has dispatched a senior official to Chile to request cooperation in the investigation of a Chilean man’s suspected involvement in the disappearance of a Japanese student in France, the Japanese Embassy in Chile said.
Senior Vice Foreign Minister Kentaro Sonoura has arrived in Chile to meet Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz Valenzuela and the country’s prosecutor general, it said.
French prosecutors put the Chilean man in his 20s on the international wanted list last month for allegedly killing Narumi Kurosaki, 21, who was last seen in Besancon, eastern France. French police believe the man has fled to Chile.
Although his identity has not been officially disclosed, French prosecutors said he was formerly Kurosaki’s boyfriend.
Although the body of Kurosaki, a student from the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, has not been found, the prosecutors said they have sufficient evidence to suspect murder.
Blood stains were found near an emergency exit in Kurosaki’s dormitory at the University of Franche-Comte in Besancon where she was studying, local media reported.
In Chile, the Supreme Court decides whether to detain a suspect wanted in a foreign criminal investigation. Even if the court decides to turn over a suspect, the accused can challenge the extradition decision.
