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South Korean POW Returns Home After 50 Years in North Korea

South Korean POW Returns Home After 50 Years in North Korea

Posted December. 24, 2003 22:40,   

한국어

Jeon Yong-il, a 72-year-old former South Korean prisoner of war who was arrested by Chinese authorities after attempting to board a Seoul-bound flight with a fake passport, arrived at Incheon International Airport at 4:18 p.m. on Wednesday. He had been detained in China for 41 days.

Jeon had spent 50 years in North Korea after being caught by the North in the closing weeks of the Korean War in Kangwon Province. After briefly saying at the Incheon International Airport that the last 50 years was a military service period for him, he went to an unknown place to be interrogated by intelligent agents. He came along with a 67-year-old female defector.

Jeon fled North Korea in June and sought help from the South Korean Embassy in Beijing in September, identifying himself as POW and hoping for a trip to his homeland. The Defense Ministry, however, had bungled in checking his status, and the South Korean Embassy in Beijing had been slow to react, delaying his return to homeland.

With nowhere to turn to for help, Jeon forged a passport and tried to board a flight to South Korea at the airport in Hangzhou, China. However, he was arrested by Chinese authorities.

Then he was transferred to a detention camp located near the border with North Korea. The South Korean government later found him to be a prisoner of war, and made every effort to bring him home. The Chinese government finally decided to let him fly to Seoul.

His hometown is North Kyongsang Province, and his four family members still live in his hometown including a 78-year-old his sister, Jeon Yon-ok, in Daegu.

His return will bring the number of South Korean POWs who have returned home after fleeing the North to 34. The first one was a second lieutenant, Choe Chang-ho.



Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com