News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: So What's Happening With North Korea?

Date: April 03, 1999

Following in the wake of South Korea's plea to international human rights organizations to force North Korea to release the HUNDREDS of POWs that remain in labor camps, North Korea has responded.

Two announcements of note, both officially sanctioned, have appeared... it has not gone unnoticed that, as usual, the international humanitarian community has remained silent on the issue of POWs, specifically South Korea's plea. But then again, the international human rights groups have never been quick on the trigger to mire themselves in the political morass of the POW-MIA issue.

Item number 1 - North Korea urged the US to take the initiative and responsibility of repatriating any North Korean POWs held in SOuth Korea. It should be noted that last January, South Korea set-up an amnesty program and released any 'unconverted long-term' POWs, 17 in total. If they did not return to the North it is no wonder given the political, social and economic climate there.

Item number 2 - The official mouthpiece of the Communist nation, KCNA, has published an article by what they purport to be a POW. In response to the potential fallout of South Korean POW escapees and their recollections BY NAME of surviving POWs, North Korea has paraded a solidly propagandized pro-North Korea-anti-imperialist America-puppet-South Korea statement that speaks of the horrors of capitalist nations and the marvel of collective communist living. It has not gone unnoticed that none of the men listed on the South Korean captive list, to include 240-plus Korean War POWs, have been allowed to make their feelings publicly known.

Enough propaganda, let's hear some facts and get some answers.

With respect to the remains issue, North Korea added a quid pro quo to their statement. It would "be helpful" for the US in its remains recovery program, if they were to intervene. "This will be helpful to the solution of GIs' remains," the KCNA parroted. "Our side is now unearthing the remains of American soldiers who died in the area of the northern half of Korea during the Korean war and handing them to the U.S. side from a humanitarian point of view," KCNA said.

We can't identify the few scant remains they have already recovered as the North Korean policy of destruction and warehousing has made identification almost impossible. It is interesting to see that the North Koreans have taken a cue from Vietnam and realized that the US invests dearly in remains recovery, and are holding it out as a carrot for further negotiations and benefits. Is this anything like the 'superb' cooperation of Vietnam over the past 10 years? Vietnam held remains hostage, warehoused them as policy and salted the scavenger-hunt sites as needed, and has managed to relieve the US of considerable cash in the process. Is this the 'humanitarian' aspect to which North Korea refers? Remains identification is a critical issue for families and the question of MIAs (Missing in Action), LKAs (Last Known Alive) and live POWs (Prisoners of War) has not been addressed loudly or frequently enough. South Korean has pending humanitarian claims for the release of HUNDREDS of POWs which seems to have fallen upon deaf ears. Yet, North Korea hurls donner und blitzen in the guise of nuclear news and teh US acquiesces, and nothing more is heard of POWs. Same old, same old.

But, North Korea is holding out US remains as a bargaining chip. More remains, no men, remains. And we can't even identify what we have.

In Dr. Paul Cole's 3 volume POW-MIA study, Korean Remains Repatriation section, he writes, "A LARGER WAREHOUSE: This study recommends that the objectives of US policy be changed to recover and identify. If this measure is not adopted, this study recommends that the US government should invest in a larger warehouse for the storage of human remains obtained from North Korea."