Re: North Korea May Still Hold 500 POWs

Date: February 24, 2004

"Ex-POW celebrates freedom but fears for family in N.K.
YEONGCHEON - Jun Yong-il knows the pain of leaving behind loved ones.

The former South Korean POW had to say goodbye to his family half a century ago when he went off to fight in the Korean War. Then last year, he decided to flee the North, leaving behind his children and grandchildren.

Some of those he left behind in 1951 are dead. He is just now renewing acquaintances with those he has missed for a half century. And the 72-year-old Yeongcheon resident has no idea if he will ever see those he left behind in North Korea.

Jun is the latest of more than 30 South Korean prisoners of war who have managed to escape the communist country since 1994. The Defense Ministry believes North Korea still holds 500 POWs from the 1950-53 war out of an estimated 1,200 who were originally captured but have since died or disappeared. Another 500 civilians and military members were believed kidnapped during the conflict. The North denies detaining any South Koreans.

Jun's return has strengthened South Korea's resolve to learn the fate of other POWs the North is believed to be holding. And while his captivity was harsh, his escape and return to his old life has had its tough parts.

"I found out that after I was captured, I was not on the list of prisoners of war, but on the killed-in-action list," he recalled in an interview at his brother's home. "Through all these years, my family thought I was dead until I found a way to contact my brother two years ago."

Jun is still tight-lipped about most of his experiences in the North, reluctant to speak too much about the hardship for fear the communist state will take it out on his family.

His North Korean wife died in 2000, three years before he fled the small mining town of Musan in North Hamgyeong Province on the Chinese border.

Jun and his wife raised two sons and a daughter. He now has five grandchildren.

"My biggest fear is that all this publicity and media will bring trouble for my children remaining in the North," said Jun, who has been interviewed countless times since his return by the government.

South Korea detained him for three weeks to confirm his identity and debrief him. He was released Jan. 18.

His North Korean family never discussed the possibility of leaving though they supported him fully. His daughter connected him with the people smuggler who led Jun to freedom. She actually ventured into China to find the so-called freedom broker and phoned her uncle in the South.

Jun believed he had to chance getting out of the North as he was aging and getting more fragile. He wanted the opportunity to reconnect with what family members were still alive and see his South Korean hometown.

Barely in his second month back, Jun's once-drawn face now looks well fed and rosy. His emotions are an odd mix of joy and sadness.

"The only thing I can wish for is to find a way to bring not only my children over, but for everyone to reunite with the families."

Younger brother Soo-il and his sister-in-law watched quietly during the interview, occasionally offering a comment, as Jun in his rapid-fire manner speaks about selected aspects of his life over the last 50 years.

He often interrupted his thoughts in mid-sentence, stopping apparently to filter out what he believes may be too risky to comment on. He still believes North Korean security officials are somehow listening to what he has to say.

He shied away from talking about his life in the North, which mostly revolved around 50 years of hard labor in the mines. He skipped over most details about the hardships of his life though he alluded to them when comparing his new life in the South.

For instance, he wants to travel while he still can and see more of South Korea. He had no such freedom in North Korea. During his first decade in the mining town he and other POWs sent there were under surveillance and unable to leave. After that, there were no means of transportation as the North did not provide fuel to residents but rather funneled it all toward its military.

He only had electricity a couple of hours a day in North Korea, so he and his neighbors found alternative fuel sources, such as twigs and paper scraps, to start cooking fires.

Farming was limited due to lack of equipment and other agricultural resources. Food became increasingly scarce as the years went by, Jun said. However, his children and their families have managed to improve their quality of life. Two are government workers while the third is a laborer.

Now, he enjoys all the food he can manage and plans to travel, depending only on his timetable for taking a bus or train. He is fascinated by the speed of the bullet train. He does not quite believe a trip from one end of the country to the other is only a matter of hours.

But it is not just technology that is foreign to him. Even his boyhood hometown is often unfamiliar.

"It's all different now, but I can still remember how everything was before I left," he said. "The village, the roads, the scenery and especially the way my mother and brother looked. I missed Mother the most. I wish she could have known that I was alive."

His father died before he left for the war and his mother and older brother have since died. His older and younger sisters as well as Soo-il are still alive.

In 1951 at 19, Jun was drafted into the South Korean Army but was captured just weeks before the Korean War cease-fire by Chinese troops who fought alongside North Korean forces. He was a private first class when captured at the age of 21.

After three years of suffering in a POW camp, Jun and some 30 other prisoners were taken to the coal mine. He escaped in mid-2003.

Jun walked through the knee-high waters of the Tumen River to reach China. "Nothing else was on my mind, except to just get across the river," said Jun, who refused any comment on his feelings toward the North.

His younger brother paid the freedom broker about 20 million won to get him to China. He hid for weeks in June in a safe house before trying to use a forged passport to get on a plane for Seoul but was captured by Chinese authorities.

He was held for a few weeks by the Chinese but eventually was released to another safe house. The South Korean government secured his release in late December and he flew into Incheon on Christmas Eve.

He has since been promoted to staff sergeant. His discharge ceremony at a Seoul-area base Jan. 19 was held last month. He received his back pay and pension, amounting to about 400 million won.

"I'm very satisfied and happy," said Jun, who wears his Army uniform for media interviews or official functions. "The South Korean government is giving me everything I need to live my life here.

"It was painful to leave my family there but the future was unclear. I was willing to risk my life to come back to my hometown. But my children are still there and I worry about them every day."

He is convinced reunification is just around the corner, both for Korea and his family. He is currently researching legal immigration ways to get his family out of the North.

"All the families like mine, which were separated, will meet again," he said.

By Choi Soung-ah
2001 ~ 2003 Herald Media INC."