At Last, a Gov't That Cares for our POWs
As it was being briefed a few days ago by the Defense Ministry, president-elect Lee Myung-bak's Transition Committee said it views resolving the plight of South Korean prisoners of war held in North Korea as a prime responsibility of the state, and the situation demands priority. As a result, the Defense Ministry has decided to consistently raise this issue in military talks with North Korea and to take steps to verify the existence of South Korean POWs in North Korea and seek their return.
Since 1990, 59 South Korean POWs have fled North Korea and returned to the South. And based on their accounts, around 560 more are still believed to be held. Yet North Korea is refusing to even acknowledge the existence of South Korean POWs there. Their attitude will not change overnight.
But still, that South Korea has announced that it is its prime responsibility to bring back the POWs is of tremendous significance. That's because it is a pledge by the government to carry out its basic responsibilities to its people. A country that is incapable of protecting and saving its own people is not worthy of existence. And a country like that has nothing to say to its people who were imprisoned while fighting for their homeland.
Until now, the government has avoided addressing the POW issue, fearful of angering the North. When North Korea demanded that South Korea stop using the term "POW," our government started using strange words, referring to those men as "people who went missing during and after the war." Under that atmosphere, the nine-member family of a South Korean POW was arrested by Chinese authorities while hiding at a boarding house provided by our consulate in Shenyang, China. They were all sent back to North Korea.
With Seoul unwilling to stand up for them, who would bother to pay attention to our country's forgotten POWs and other citizens who were kidnapped by North Korea? It is the consequence of our actions that North Korea returns the remains of U.S. soldiers, but ignores the plight of South Korean POWs. It is the consequence of our actions that the U.S. State Department lists in its reports on terrorism only Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea and neglects any mention of South Korean abductees.
Military commanders of the U.S., which is very dedicated to protecting its own people, promise their troops that they will be the first to enter a battle zone and the last to leave. The current president of Korea and the government should ask themselves if they have done the exact opposite. Reconciling and negotiating with North Korea can be done after South Korea saves its people.
©2007 The Chosun Ilbo & Digital Chosun Ilbo