Government May Swap Aid for Abductees

The government is reviewing a plan to offer large-scale support to North Korea, such as investment in a Social Overhead Capital (SOC) program, plant building, and goods in return for the repatriation of some 1,000 civilian abductees and prisoners of war (POW) that are believed to be alive in North Korea.

If the plan is approved, the government will suggest it to the North at the inter-Korean ministerial meeting in Pyongyang from April 21-24.

In return for the aid, the government is also considering additional demands, such as regular reunion sessions and letter exchanges for separated families.

“It could help solve the issue of those kidnapped by the North,” said Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok at the 21st Century Northeast Asia Future Forum organized by the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) on April 7.

The government is said to be focusing on studies of similar cases abroad, using them as a barometer to resolve the Korean civilian abductees and POW issue.

In the case of Germany, West Germany moved East’s political offenders to the West and provided goods in return for some 20 years from 1969 when Germany was still divided into East and West to 1990 when the East and West finally reunited.

Under the policy, the number of East Germany’s political prisoners, which reached 12,000 in the 1960s, went down to 2,000-2,500 just before the reunification.

The government is also studying the case in which the U.S. paid the North for the excavation of the remains of some 220 U.S. soldiers who were killed in the Korean War from 1996 to 2005. The U.S. is known to have paid more than $15 million to North Korea during this period.