Pursuant to a recent advertizing campaign on subway trains and in other public places, the South Korean government has added 351 to the number of accepted cases of Korean War abduction by North Korea, bringing the total to 743.
Prime Minister Kim Hwang Sik formally added to the existing list of cases yesterday during the 6th meeting of a committee established under the auspices of the prime minister’s office to deal with the issue.
The newly added list of ‘abductees’ contains a number of important figures, including the following: ▲ ten politicians, including National Assembly lawmakers Kim Kyo Hyun, Kwon Tae Hee, Park Young Rae and Park Chul Kyu; ▲ six journalists and media company employees, including Baek Un Sun (then of the Donga Ilbo), Lee Jong Seung (then of Seoul Shinmun); and ▲ six judicial officials, including Choi Dong Uk (then a Seoul high court judge) and Ha Jin Moon (then a Seoul district court judge).
In announcing the decision, Kim commented, “The government will continue to take an interest in and work toward solving those inter-Korean humanitarian problems brought about by the division [of the Peninsula], including that of these abductees.”
“We will also seek out yet more abductees going forward,” he added.
The South Korean government has been engaged in a public campaign calling for more victims of abduction or their families to step forward and report their cases, premised on the belief that they had been dissuaded from so-doing previously by a lack of knowledge as to how it might be achieved.
The list of 743 excludes prisoners of war.
