[imText1]Choi Sung Ryong, a representative of the “Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea” reported on the 13th that Lim Kook Jae, a crew member of the Dong Jin 27 that was abducted by a North Korean patrol boat near Baek Ryung Island of the Yellow Sea in January 1987, died in a North Korean political prison camp.
Lim, who is from Andong of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea, was the youngest of the abducted crew members and was confined in a political prison camp located in Chongjin of North Hamgyung Province after attempting to escape three separate times into China; September 2003, April 2004, and the beginning of 2005.
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Choi told the Daily NK in a phone interview that he has received “inside information from a North Korea source that Lim has passed away in political prison camp #25 and shared the information with his family in South Korea”.
Choi also told the Daily NK that it has been confirmed that among nine family members of the POWs that were forcefully repatriated to North Korea after being protected by the South Korean Consulate General in Shenyang, China in October 2006, three family members of Lee Gang San, a POW, were imprisoned in political prison camps.
“Among these three, the daughter-in-law Kim Young Hwa and the granddaughter Lee Jung Hwa are now confined in the Soosung political prison camp in Chongjin but the grandson Lee Jung Hoon’s political camp location was not confirmed. We are revealing their pictures publicly under the consent of family members in the South” he added.
Choi, however, also said it is pity that “our government has welcomed the U.S.’ decision to remove North Korea from the terrorism list when victims of North Korean abduction and their families continue to struggle”.
On the other hand, Choi attended an inspection of the Ministry of Unification by the National Assembly’s Unification, Foreign Affairs, and Trade Committee on the 6th as a reference and revealed that a total of three POWs and abductees have been staying at the Consulate in China since last March.
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