By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

King County prosecutors have filed felony charges against a Bellevue mother accused of fleeing to Japan with her 6-year-old son.

According to charging documents, Michiyo Imoto Morehouse, 42, was barred from taking the boy out of the state after a county court awarded primary custody to the boy's father, Morehouse's ex-husband.

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Kahala Hotel and Resort
Honolulu, HI
October 27, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thank you very much. We just had a very comprehensive, far-ranging discussion on many issues of concern to the United States and Japan, and I want to thank my colleague and counterpart, the foreign minister. It is a pleasure to be back in Hawaii and an even greater pleasure to be hosting the foreign minister here in Honolulu. I appreciate very much his willingness to take the long trip from Japan to be here.

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — International pressure continues to mount on Japan to address the problem of parental child abduction within its borders.

During a meeting Friday with Japan’s Minister of Justice in Tokyo, officials from the European Union as well as representatives from Belgium, Colombia, Germany and Hungary joined the call for Japan to sign the 1981 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The act essentially prevents parents from absconding with their children to or within the 82 signatory countries.

Tokyo, Japan
October 22, 2010

We, the Ambassadors to Japan of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, and the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Union to Japan, the Deputy Heads of Mission of Spain, and the United Kingdom, and the Political Counselor of France, called on Japan’s Minister of Justice today to express our concerns over the increase of international parental abduction cases involving Japan that affect our nationals as well as Japanese citizens, and to urge Japan to ratify the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”).

QUESTION: With regard to the child abduction issues, would you expect any good sign from the Japanese government, like the GOJ will get ready to join the Hague Convention?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yes, I’m hopeful. I have seen a substantial change in recent months in Japanese attitudes about the parental custody and abduction issues, and I’m struck – you know, Japan is a compassionate nation, and the more that my Japanese friends and colleagues are exposed to the truth of these parents who have been separated forcibly from their children, the more that they understand the horrible challenges that this issue produces. And I think we have seen a very consequential diplomatic effort, not just from the United States, but from a very large number of industrialized democracies who have come to Japan and said, “Look, you’re an outlier on this issue. Join the Hague Convention. It will bring you in alignment with the other countries who face these difficult issues.” And I believe a process has begun in Japan.

Join Bring Abducted Children (BAC Home) to hold up posters and distribute up to 10,000 BAC Home fliers to promote awareness of International Child Abduction at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” at the far eastern end of the National Mall between 3rd Street and 7th Street, known as East Seaton Park and Henry Park.October 30, 2010.

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) condemning Japan for the abduction of U.S. children.