The Korean War Abductees’ Family Union held a press conference on Wednesday in front of the headquarters of the government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, calling for an investigation into abductions committed by North Korea during the Korean War. They believe the Moon Jae-in administration has ignored their plight.
“We need a full investigation to find the truth about the abduction cases of 100,000 people, which only have victims and no perpetrators,” the union argued. “Finding truth should come first and it should be followed by recovering the honor of victims of abduction and their family members, apology from North Korea and the Moon Jae-in administration, and recovery of human remains from the abduction.”
The union said it held a 30-minute meeting with Chung Keun-sik, commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and that Chung promised he would do his best to look into the issue. Chung reportedly said that they cannot actually conduct an investigation inside North Korea, but that they will research related documents thoroughly.
The commission was established through a law that went into effect in 2020. The law states that the commission should find out the truth about homicide, assault, and abduction cases of civilians that occurred from August 15, 1945, through the period following the 1950-53 Korean War.
“This year marks the 71st year since the outbreak of the Korean War caused by the North Korean regime,” the union said in a press release. “The families of abductees not only lost their beloved family members but also were forced to struggle on in their lives for years without knowing their loved ones’ fate. North Korea abducted ordinary fathers, husbands, sons, and daughters, as well as political leaders, intellectuals, artists, entrepreneurs, technicians, students, and others. South Korean government statistics and data show that around 100,000 people were abducted by North Korea at that time.”
Then the union criticized the Moon Jae-in administration for its stance toward North Korea. “The Moon administration prioritized improvement in inter-Korean relations more than any other previous administration, and officially met with the Kim Jong-un regime multiple times,” the statement said. “However, the Moon administration did not raise the issue of the 100,000 victims of abduction once.”
The group argued that the government’s fundamental duty is to protect its own citizens. “The Moon Jae-in administration that disregarded its basic duty should work harder toward resolving the Korean War abduction issue.”
North Korea never admitted that it was involved in the abduction of South Korean citizens during the war.
North Korea is also accused of abducting Japanese nationals. The Japanese government’s stance is that a total of 17 people were abducted by North Korea and five of them were returned in 2002. Japan continues to seek the return of the remaining 12 people. North Korea, on the other hand, argues that it only had 13 Japanese people, saying that four never came to their territory. The North’s position is that eight people died and five people were returned. Japan officially lists 17 nationals as having been abducted by North Korean agents but believes that they were involved in many more disappearances.
Unlike South Korea, Japan has been calling for the return of abductees more publicly. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry on June 13, Japan won support from other members of the Group of Seven nations to work together toward addressing the issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the abduction issue is a top priority for Japan and called for “full understanding and cooperation” on the matter, to which his G-7 counterparts agreed, according to the ministry’s press release.
North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a rare statement on June 15 titled “Japan’s Groundless Abduction Farce to Hoodwink the World.” The author of the statement was Ri Pyong-dok, a researcher at the Institute for Studies of Japan. Ri argued that “the abduction issue was already resolved in an impeccable and irreversible manner by our efforts in good faith.” He continued as follows.
“Japan is ignoble enough to be given to the diplomacy of sycophancy and solicitation of taking up the abduction issue anywhere both at home and abroad. Not content with this, it has gone so far as to scheme to orchestrate the anti-DPRK smear campaign even in the UN arena. Then what lies behind such a scheme? Its sinister intention is to cover up, by all means, its thrice-cursed, super-class crimes such as forced abduction and drafting of more than 8.4 million Koreans, the massacre of more than 1 million Koreans and forcing of 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery during 40-odd years of its unlawful and illegal occupation of Korea in the last century.”
Ri added that “Japan will surely have to pay dearly for committing without any hesitation its most vicious hostile acts against the DPRK under the signboard of ‘abduction’.”
“Those countries that take up the refrain of Japan without discerning its true colors are well-advised to restrain themselves after reflecting upon the negative consequences that this farce would incur.”
President Moon Jae-in has also failed to raise the issue of South Korean prisoners-of-war (POWs) who were never returned to Kim Jong-un during their three summits in recent years. North Korea only returned around 8,000 POWs to South Korea, and the United Nations’ Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea estimated that at least 50,000 POWs from the south were not repatriated. The commission added that approximately 500 survivors are still being held in the DPRK.
Recently, two former POWs, Han Jae-bok and Nah Sa-hong, sued the North Korean government and its dictator Kim Jong-un and were awarded 21 million won ($18,834) each for labor they performed in captivity. The two POWs escaped North Korea between 2000 and 2001, nearly a half-century after their capture during the Korean War. In March this year, the daughter of a South Korean man abducted by North Korean soldiers during the Korean War won a civil suit against the North Korean government and its dictator Kim Jong-un. The court ruled that the plaintiff surnamed Choi was entitled to 50 million won in compensation from the North Korean regime.
