35l South Korean POWs in the North identified

Defense Minister Cho Seong-Tae said Friday that his ministry has secured the names of 35l South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) assumed to be still alive and held in North Korea. They are among the 19,000-odd South Korean servicemen who were taken prisoner during the Korean War and have yet to return home.

Information on the POWs was collected from a few of their counterparts who managed to flee the North and reach South Korea. Cho told the National Assembly Legislation-Judiciary Committee during its questioning of the administration on military tribunals that, to his great regret, no satisfactory results have been obtained although the government has worked hard to resolve the issue of the Southern POWs. During both the Red Cross talks and the second inter-Korean ministerial meeting, Cho said the Seoul government explained to the North that the repatriation of long-term North Korean prisoners held in the South was a measure to address the overall problem of reuniting separated families, calling for the reciprocal return of the South Korean soldiers.

He disclosed that he had spoken at the first round of defense ministers' talks of the importance of the question of Southern prisoners, asking the Northern delegation to deliver the message to its leadership in Pyongyang. The government will continue to drive home to the North the need to resolve the question of the return of the POWs, he said, adding that pending a final solution, practical steps will be sought to fully account for their status and initiate mail exchanges and reunions with their families here.