[imText1]Choi Wook Il (67), a fisherman abducted in 1975 defected from North Korea in 31 years and is now known to be residing in China.<\/p>\n
According to Representative Choi Sung Yong, a \u201cFamily Assembly abducted to North Korea\u201d which aided Choi Wook Il\u2019s defection on the 4th, Choi crossed the North Korea-China border last year December 25th, and is currently hiding in Yanji. Representative Choi alerted the consulate in Shenyang through the Ministry of Unification and is awaiting a response for a request to have immediate protection for Choi\u2019s safety. <\/p>\n
On the 22nd of last month, Choi left the village of Kimchaek in North Hamkyung, then arrived at Hwaesan, North Hamkyung on the 24th and crossed the frozen Tumen River on the 25th. With 8 stitches above his right forehead, Choi is not in a healthy condition after having been in a traffic accident while defecting from North Korea. <\/p>\n
After surviving a life-or-death crisis, Choi met his wife in China, Yang Jung Ja (66) on the 31st after 31 years. While waiting for a response from the government, Yang returned to the country on the 3rd in attempt to bring her husband back to South Korea. <\/p>\n
Once a fisherman on the mariner, the Chunwang, Choi was abducted and in 1979 married a North Korea woman with whom he had a son and daughter. Since then, he worked as a farmer in Poongnyun-ri in Kimchaek, North Hamkyung. At the time, Choi was known to be of South Korean birth and for this reason experienced greater control from North Korean authorities and lived in poor surroundings. <\/p>\n
Unable to endure his hard life, Choi wrote a letter to his family in South Korea in 1998 seeking help. After confirming the life of Choi, his wife Yang and Family Assembly who were abducted to North Korea began working to help Choi escape. <\/p>\n
Representative Choi said \u201cSince 1998, we (Family Assembly abducted to North Korea and Yang) have tried very hard to help Choi escape\u201d and revealed \u201cOn seeing a message and photo of his family in South Korea last September, Choi decided to defect.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said \u201cWe have sent an official statement to the Ministry of Unification seeking Choi\u2019s protection and reentry to South Korea\u201d and added \u201cHowever, they are displaying a negative attitude and hence Choi\u2019s entry is being delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conversely, Choi informed that Park Sang Won, another fisherman on the Chunwang who was also abducted, lived in Kimchaek but died in 1998. Until now, Koh Myung Sob (63) is the only survivor of the 33 mariners on the Chunwang to have repatriated back to South Korea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[imText1]Choi Wook Il (67), a fisherman abducted in 1975 defected from North Korea in 31 years and is now known to be residing in China. According to Representative Choi Sung Yong, a \u201cFamily Assembly abducted to North Korea\u201d which aided Choi Wook Il\u2019s defection on the 4th, Choi crossed the North Korea-China border last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":3264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n