A South Korean POW in his 80s who crossed the North Korea-China border in August is being detained in Yanji while the South Korean administration attempts to negotiate his release.
The representative of Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea, Choi Sung Ryong told Daily NK on Friday, “On August 24, a POW was arrested by the Chinese police and is being detained in a hospital in China due to health problems.”
“The Chinese authorities cannot repatriate him to North Korea because our administration has made a direct request,” he explained.
Whilst defectors are routinely sent back across the Yalu River by the Chinese authorities, if the South Korean government makes a direct request about them by name then the Chinese are not able to deport them.
“If the Chinese authorities deport him after informal negotiations with our administration, then we can bring him in,” Choi also confirmed, “but China is not cooperating with us.”
Meanwhile, a South Korean official released, “The administration is negotiating through several channels to gain his release. We will do our best to protect and repatriate him to his fatherland.”
