N. Korea must release ailing S. Korean POW

A South Korean war prisoner identified only as his surname Jeong who fled to China but arrested by Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea is confirmed to have been held in a North Korean correctional facility for three years. The 85-year-old man was in bad health and partly paralyzed in his face when he was caught four years ago. If he is left without treatment, he is likely to die from aging and severe imprisonment without fulfilling his only hope of going back to his hometown for good. South Korean war prisoners are those who were captured by the North while fighting for the South on the front lines of the Korean War. The South Korean government cannot overlook these people who have been suffering so many hardships for over 60 years. Instead, it should seek every way and means for the return of these people.

Jeong had been forced to work in the notorious Aoji Coal Mine. He fled to China with his family in August 2009, but was unfortunately caught by Chinese police. And the Chinese government sent him back to North Korea after six months of detention. The South Korean government should have made every diplomatic effort to prevent such an inhuman act of China. To let him just be repatriated to the North was the government’s negligence of duty to protect its people.

Having an old and sick man has no merit to North Korea. If the South Korean government does not give up and actively find ways to deal with this issue, it can find a breakthrough for the repatriation of war prisoners. It would not be difficult to justify the request for Jeong’s release because the South Korean government repatriated to the North Lee In-mo in 1993 and 63 unconverted long-term political prisoners in 2000. North Korea cannot turn a blind eye to this.

The remains of a late soldier named Sohn Dong-sik have recently returned to South Korea in 60 years. He left a will that he “wants to be buried in his hometown.” His daughter smuggled out the remains to China and brought them into South Korea with the help of an incorporated organization named the Dream Makers for North Korea (or Forget-me-not in Korean). Jeong’s imprisonment was confirmed by his inmate who tipped off to a North Korea news agency in the South. The South Korean government should not sit by and just leave the issue to private institutions.

Nam Jae-jun, the head of National Intelligence Service, invited defected South Korean war prisoners last month and apologized by saying, “The government has been negligent, and the Republic of Korea was coward.” Unification Minister Ryu Kihl-jae said at a parliamentary inspection meeting, “(We) will review various measures including the “Freikauf” model in order to bring back war prisoners and abductees.” Freikauf model is to make a financial compensation for the release of prisoners. It was also tried by the previous Lee Myung-bak administration and supported by the opposition parties. The South Korean government should bring back Jeong by all means.