News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Return POWs and Captives

Date: July 13, 2000

World News Connection
ROK, DPRK Governments Urged To Broaden Scope of Interests Editorial: "Return POWs and Captives"

As the first follow-up action to last month's historic inter-Korean summit, the Red Cross societies of the two Koreas have agreed to allow members of the first group of separated families to meet on the occasion of this year's National Day. Under the agreement, reached between the two sides last week at North Korea's Kumgangsan Hotel, 100 members of dispersed families from each side will visit Seoul and Pyongyang on Aug. 15-18 to meet long-lost family members and relatives.

Millions of South Koreans hope that the upcoming exchange visits will open ways for them to locate their long-missing family members and relatives across the border and to meet with them on a regular basis without fear of political consequences. They further hope that the landmark visits will promote exchanges and cooperation between the two Koreas in various areas. They eventually hope to see their divided land peacefully reunited, putting an end to an era of tragic division and armed confrontation that has lasted for half a century.

We deeply regret, however, that in the process of negotiating these epoch-making family reunions, the South Korean representatives at the talks failed to address the pain of the families of South Korean prisoners of war and civilians who were kidnapped after the war.

Following the exchange of visits for family reunions, the South agreed to repatriate in early September all of the former North Korean spies who have completed their prison terms here and want to return to the North. But they have made no mention about the South Korean prisoners of war or the civilians who the North abducted since the cease-fire.

In principle, we believe that the issue of the South Korean POWs and civilian captives must be resolved as part of a package deal that includes the North Korean spies. We do not understand why the South Korean negotiators failed to persuade their North Korean counterparts to discuss the repatriation of the South Koreans detained in the North during the pre-summit contacts. It is possible that the North Koreans wanted to avoid dealing with this sensitive issue because of its possible repercussions in terms of their domestic politics.

We are aware that the North Korean government has consistently denied holding any South Korean POWs, though unofficial figures in the South say that some 19,000 South Korean POWs remained in the North after the exchange of prisoners at the end of the Korea War. A recent government study found that 312 of these prisoners are probably still alive, based on the reports of defectors and escapees. Yet the North insists that there are no South Korean POWs, but only "fighters for liberation who simply happened to join the South's army during the war." In a similar vein, they denied that they have kidnapped any South Korean citizens.

South Korean Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu recently remarked that he understands that there are no longer any South Korean POWs in the North. This attests to serious problems in the attitude of our government on this issue. It is also a shame that the successive governments in Seoul have taken an excessively cautious position regarding the issue of returning the South Korean POWs and civilian captives from the North.

They have failed to work on repeated appeals from their families to make efforts for their repatriation. Under the past military governments, the families of those civilian captives were investigated for their ideological disposition.

President Kim's incumbent government took a remarkable step last year when it revealed that the North is holding captive of 454 South Korean civilians, most of them fishermen, who were kidnapped since the signing of the cease-fire in July 1953. The National Intelligence Service revealed the names of these captives and the date each was abducted. The intelligence agency said that it would seek assistance from the UN Commission on Human Rights and other international nongovernment organizations to help them come home.

At this momentous juncture in the history of inter-Korean relations, we strongly urge both governments in Seoul and Pyongyang to broaden the scope of their interest from the wartime refugees to the people who were sacrificed by the Cold War confrontation and suffered in the shadow of extreme ideological conflict. The pain of these people deserves more attention from the government for humanitarian reasons as well. The two sides should seek a breakthrough on this issue as a sign of their genuine effort for peace and reconciliation.