News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: POW Escapee Reveals More Horror Stories

Date: October 30, 1998

Forty-five years after he was captured by the Chinese and endured unimaginable privation at the hands of the North Koreans, Chang Mu-hwan was formally discharged from the South Korean Army.

Traveling to the place where he was captured, the elderly man who had suffered 40 years of forced labor said, "I, Corporal Chang Mu-Hwan, report my retirement on orders dated October 29, 1998," the old soldier shouted in a trembling voice at this frontline unit which was overrun by Chinese troops in the final days of the conflict.

Wearing a camouflage uniform and flower lei, the ex-POW was promoted to Corporal and given 45-years back pay, in addition to an apartment and a monthly veteran's pension.

His ordeal included being wounded prior to capture then sent to various POW camps and for several years labored building roads and houses. Mine clearing became a job all the while being forced to learn songs of patriotism under guard. Around 1954, 500 POWs were transferred to the north eastern border of North Korea and it was there that Chang labored in coal mines for the next 40 years.

According to Chang, the desperate state in North Korea and the result of the unending famine forces peple to sell the only thing they have left... their blood. And last year alone, over one million died.

Chang has stated that a number of POWs remain alive and in captivity in North Korea. South Korean officials are investigating his claims. Let us hope and pray they don't take as long investigating as the US government does... if they do, we can be assured all of the remaining POWs will surely die waiting.