▲ Abductees dragged to North Korea during the War (left), a gathering to urge repariation of the abductees (right)

The Korean War continues for the families of kidnapping victims abducted by North Korea during the war. This sadness should cease now. The aid law for post-Korean War abductees was passed in the National Assembly on April 2, 2007. This law does not cover POWs or their families.

Families of those abducted during the war have been largely ignored by a South Korean government that focused on post-war abductees because war abductees were “an old story.” This attitude has induced desperation within families suffering for over 50 years.

The members of the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union have been working with slim hopes of finding their loved ones. Lee Mee Il, the president of the Union, said that the “old” Korean War abductee problem could not sustain South Korean governmental interest. This attitude is a source of great sadness among the abductees’ families. She said that the South Korean government was the greatest hindrance to her repatriation efforts.

For seven years, the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union has achieved what the South Korean government could not—the publishing of the “Report on the Korean War Abductees’ Affairs.” The report supplies overwhelming evidence of North Korean abductions that had been systematically and meticulously planned. According to the report, 80 thousand South Korean congressmen, public officers, and other elite citizens were abducted in a 3 month period from June to September, 1950.

The DailyNK is publicizing the report in a Q & A format.