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Seoul Considers Aid-For-Abductee Deal

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공표년도

창작년도

2006-04-14

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The South Korean government is reportedly working on a proposal for North Korea to bring home South Koreans who were taken to the communist country decades ago.
Officials here say nothing is finalized just that the government may consider an aid-for-abductee deal.
Sam Len reports.
The South Korean government is reviewing ways to bring home about a thousand of its citizens who are believed to be living in North Korea.
They're civilians and prisoners of war kidnapped during or after the 1950 to 53 Korean War.
A possible way to bring them back is by offering North Korea a large-scale support package.
Although nothing has been decided regarding a support package a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry says the government wants to resolve this issue.
Calls by family members of the missing South Koreans have been growing louder.
00:06:12:12~00:08:28:12
"The abductee issue is one of the great sorrows of our country. We just hope for a bold move by North Korea to accept our government's proposal and we wish that at least some form of meeting could take place with the abductees before their family members pass away."
But locating and getting North Korea to return the South Korean citizens is an extremely sensitive issue since the communist country has vehemently denied their existence.
And pressing the North too aggressively to address that issue could cause the communist country to close its doors altogether damaging rapprochement efforts the South does not want to damage.
That's why a support package has been eyed as a possibility.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok has said that repatriating South Korean civilians could "cost" the government.
He didn't elaborate on what that cost would be.
Other South Korean officials have said that cost could be in the form of a payment‚ but they have remained tight-lipped on the exact nature of the possible deal.
The issue of South Korean abductees has surfaced many times before.
What brought it to attention this time is Kim Young-nam a South Korean who disappeared in 1978 when he was in high school.
Twenty years later South Korea's intelligence agency discovered while questioning a North Korean spy that Kim was kidnapped by the North and was living in Pyeongyang.
And earlier this week the Japanese government announced that DNA tests suggest that Kim is the husband of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota who was kidnapped in 1977.
"The DNA analysis shows that it is highly likely that the two are related."
Yokota is one of 13 Japanese nationals Pyeongyang has admitted to kidnapping to train its spies.
With the support of civic groups Kim's family is calling on the South Korean government to take steps to bring him back.
The Japanese government plans to urge the South Korean government to join hands in solving the issue.
Some Japanese lawmakers are seeking to submit a bill that would authorize economic sanctions on North Korea if it does not address the issue.
The South Korean government said there could be areas for bilateral cooperation on the issue.
But only if there is conclusive evidence.
South Korea plans to wait until results of its own DNA tests are out.
Sam Len‚ Arirang News.
Reporter : samlen@arirang.co.kr

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