The World - News from March 26, 1989

A Japanese businessman held captive for 33 days by officials of a South Korean firm is now under the protection of the Japanese Embassy, police in Seoul said. They said Tokuo Osawa, 54, president of the Tokyo-based Osawa Press Seisakusho machinery company, was released Friday and taken to a hospital where he was reported “in good health.” Osawa was reportedly seized by officials of the Namil Machine Co. at a Seoul restaurant Feb. 20 and taken to the Namil plant at Chinchun, 80 miles south of Seoul. Local newspapers said he was released after agreeing to pay about $385,000 in compensation for allegedly defective machines his firm sold to Namil last year.