“Because not all of the passengers on the
December 12, 1969 Gangreung-Gimpo domestic Korean Air flight YS-11 disembarked
the plane, [according to international aviation law] the plane is still [technically] in flight. Please send back the 11 KAL kidnapping
victims including my father, none of whom, according to international agreements,
have been able to return.”
On June 17, Hwang In Cheol (47), president
of the 1969 KAL Kidnapping Victims’ Family Association, appealed for the return
of his kidnapped father, Hwang Won (a 32-year-old producer at MBC at the time
of kidnapping), at Imjingak’s Bridge of Freedom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Hwang, his family, and approximately 10 members of the North Korean defectors
support group TNKR (Teach for North Korean Refugees) met the same day to
support the return of those kidnapped to North Korea.
On December 11, 1969, North Korean spy
(Chang Hui Jo, 42) hijacked Korean Air flight YS-11, carrying 50 passengers
from Gangneung to Seoul. Thirty-nine passengers were then able to return to
South Korea, but 11, including Hwang’s father, Hwang Won, who was on the way to
take part in Seoul MBC’s organizational planning meeting, were forcefully
detained in North Korea.
After seeing the third ROK-DPRK divided
family reunion in 2001, Hwang realized that he needed to see his father and
explained his motivation to take action for the kidnapping victims’ return with
the following: “At the time, I had just had a daughter, and when I put aside
myself, young as I was at the time, and thought about how my kidnapped father
must feel, it seemed more painful than anything in the world.”
He continued, saying, “According to the
testimonies of the 39 who had returned, my father had protested during
communist ideological indoctrination, demanding to North Korean authorities
that he be sent home, and [because of that] he was taken somewhere for two
weeks.”
Hwang Won later protested on January 1,
1970, singing the song “Gagopa (I Want to Go)” while demanding to North Korean
authorities that he be sent home, and was once again sent to an unknown
location. The returned passengers (39 returned on February 14, 1970) testified
that they did not see Hwang again before they were returned at Panmunjom.
Hwang In Cheol has spent the past 16 years
working to find out if his father is alive and to bring him home, quitting his
job to pursue such activities. In May 2015, he petitioned the UN Working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) asking to confirm whether or
not the kidnapping victims were alive and if so, to return them, and WGEID sent
a demand to North Korea for an investigation and response.
Additionally, since 2010 Hwang has held a
protest every December 11 in front of the Central Government Complex in Seoul,
insisting upon the efforts of the South Korean government.
On the 17th, Hwang stated that “the 11 KAL
kidnapping victims who still have not returned under international agreements
must be returned,” reading an appeal letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki
Moon and asking for the attention of the international community.
Upset that the KAL kidnapping incident is
considered to be a part of the past, Hwang said that “because not all
passengers disembarked, Korean Airlines YS-11 is still ‘in the air’” and
emphasized that he would continue his efforts until all 11 kidnapping victims,
including his father, are returned.
