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South Korean policy divides the abduction problem into two parts: the estimated 96,013 South Koreans abducted during the war (according to statistics compiled by the Korean War Abductees' Family Union) and the 3,835 that the Ministry of Unification has identified as being taken since. Of the latter group, 3,310 or 86 percent returned to South Korea six months to a year after their abduction, leaving over 500 in North Korea—assuming they are still alive or were in fact abducted. About 460 of these abductees were fishermen.
Recently, there have been some interesting developments with respect to both groups of abductees. In November, the Korean War Abductee's Family Union announced it was launching a case before the International Criminal Court on the issue, claiming that the abductions are a violation of the Rome Statute. The UN Commission of Inquiry also decided to take up the case.
The post-Korean War abduction issue has gotten attention recently as a result of the surprising return of an abductee who had been held for over 40 years. Jeon Wook-pyo, 68, was among 25 crewmen aboard two fishing boats captured by North Korea in 1972; in August, he returned to South Korea via a third country. A news clip on one of the other wives on NDT.TV suggests how personally wrenching these abductions are.
Now, in a new twist, the Chosun Ilbo reports that the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has taken up a number of these cases. The Working Group was formed in 1980 by the UN Human Rights Commission and had as its mandate "to assist the relatives of disappeared persons to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared family members." The mandate has been renewed ever since; a factbook on the Group can be found here (.pdf). The Group is organized to receive and examine reports of disappearances, but then exercises due diligence to determine whether the claims have merit. It then transmits individual cases to the governments concerned, requesting them to carry out investigations and to inform the Working Group of the results on purely humanitarian grounds. Since 2004, the families of 29 abduction victims have approached the Group, but prior to this week, it had only pursued seven. According to the South Korean group The Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, the WGEID has transmitted a letter to North Korea asking for information on eleven cases.
We are of course skeptical that North Korea will respond in a constructive way to any of these actions. Nonetheless, we support pursuing these cases. The WGEID seeks to approach the issue as a purely humanitarian one, but it should also serve as a reminder to North Korea that—like all governments— it has responsibilities to uphold under international humanitarian law.
