Government Understating Abductee Total

On June 21, four days before the 56th anniversary of the Korean War, Lee Mi-il, 57, chief director of the Korean War Abductees’ Family Association, missed her father who disappeared in September, 1950, with tears. She has not heard what happened to him since he was dragged away by North Korean security agents because he donated to the Seobuk Youth Group.

Lee felt envious at the news that Kim Yeong-nam, 45, an abductee to North Korea, is going to meet with Choi Gye-wol, his mother, in the 14th Dispersed Family Reunion on June 28. She also felt bitter about the government’s indifference to those abducted by North Korea.

According to a government document made in 1952 which the association found, the number of abductees during the Korean War amounts to 82,959. However, the government has not revealed the number and estimates that there were 485 abductees after the Korean War.

Lee said, “The government did not even start investigating the actual condition of the war abductees despite our repeated requests.”

The association is doing research on the actual conditions and collecting documents to publish a collection of documents on Korean War abductees in September. The 900-page book will include a list of the abducted and government documents searched and collected all over the country since 2000.

Lee said, “The government was of little help in our search.” When she asked the Ministry of Unification about related documents on war abductees after she organized the association in 2000, their answer was simply, “No.” It was the same with the National Archives & Records Service, National Police Agency, and National Intelligence Service.

The government’s indifference was deeply disappointing, but abductees’ families decided to do research on their own. They searched for data through their visits to the National Assembly Library and the National Archives & Records Service.

At last, in 2002, they found in the National Library of Korea five volumes of the “Name List of the Korean War Abductees” issued by the government in 1952. Lee said, “A source in the Library told me the government knows the presence of the list. But the Ministry of Unification argues they didn’t know.”

More related documents were found, including a “Name List of Abductees in Seoul,” which was issued by the Statistics Office under the Bureau of Public Information in 1950, and a document issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1954, in which the number of war abductees is estimated to amount to 17,000.

However, the government would still mention the number of abductees after the Korean War as if it were the total number of war abductees.

This April, Lee asked Lee Jong-seok, Minister of Unification, in a National Assembly hearing, why the number of war abductees was reported to be only 485. Minister Lee promised to investigate the actual condition of war abductees and donated 10 million won for the soon-to-be published collection of related documents.

Lee argues the Ministry of Unification is still passive in their investigation. The Ministry responded, “We are discussing the scale, time, and methods of the investigation with related organizations. We have recognized the presence of war abductees through our documents submitted to the National Assembly.”

Lee emphasized the meaning of the investigation, saying, “It is to restore honor to those forgotten in their fatherland for 50 years and make a lesson for our future.”

The association is going to urge the government to set out making a more active investigation into the actual condition of more than 100,000 war abductees by holding a campaign for the repatriation of war abductees in front of Seodaemun Prison History Hall at Hyeonjeo-dong in Seoul on June 22.

zeitung@donga.com