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Radio to Air North Abduction Stories

Posted August. 01, 2006 03:02,   

한국어

“Dad, if you see this letter, please visit my Internet website. It is made only for you, and I will wait for your visit,” wrote Hwang Chan-uk, daughter of Hwang Won, a passenger of a Korean Airlines flight abducted by North Korea in 1969.

“How can we trust a government which has no sense of responsibility for abductees and makes no effort to find out if they are alive or dead?” said Kim Jong-seop, younger brother of Kim Do-gyeong, crew member of Yeong Shin, a ship abducted in 1968.

Families of South Koreans abducted by the North are expressing their frustration and 30 years’ sorrow to North Korea.

”Open Radio for North Korea,” a radiocast which broadcasts radio programs to listeners in North Korea, announced on Monday that it will collect stories from families of abductees via its website (www.nkradio.com), e-mail (nkradio@nkradio.com) and fax (0505-471-7470) and air them.

So far, 40 families have sent their stories. Their stories will be broadcast for half an hour from 6:00 a.m. every morning. The project will start on the August 7 and will continue until the end of the month.

In 2001, Hwang Chan-uk, 37, created a website with her family and named it after her father who had been abducted by the North.

Hwang’s older brother In-cheol, 40, says, “Today, people have access to the Internet from everywhere, so we opened the website for the chance my father finds it.” He added, “I believe he will find us someday.”

Their father, Hwang Won, who was a producer of MBC, would be 70 years old if he was still alive. In December 1969, he left Gangneung, a city in Gangwon Province, on Flight YS-11 of Korean Airlines headed for Seoul. That was the last time his family saw him.

Lee Gong-hee would be 54 years old if he was still alive. He was a crew member of Oh Dae Yang 61, a ship abducted in 1972. His younger sister Ja-seo, 52, says in tears, “My mother’s only wish was to hear my brother’s voice for once, but she could not have her wish realized. She passed away in 2003.”



dnsp@donga.com