The National Human Rights Commission said on January 20th that it had delivered the government its recommendations for the second-phase National Action Plans, which is a master plan aimed at improving human rights-related laws and systems. The latest recommendations, which set the goals of domestic human rights policies, place particular emphasis on the North Korean human rights issue, compared to the previous ones that simply mentioned the issue of North Korean defectors. Notably, the commission added South Korean prisoners of war or POWs who are still held in North Korea to the list of those who should be protected. Kim Su-am, director of the Center for North Korean Human Rights at the Korea Institute for National Unification, assumes that about 500 people out of 70-thousand South Korean POWs who couldn’t return to the South during and after the Korean War are still alive in the North.

The existence of South Korean prisoners of war in North Korea was made known to the public in 1994 when lieutenant Cho Chang-ho escaped North Korea and returned to the South. Since then, 80 South Korean POWs who had been captive in the North have managed to come back home. Some of them returned to South Korea with their family members. The estimates of the exact number of POWs aren’t accurate. Based on the testimonies of the escaped prisoners and North Korean defectors who have resettled here, about 510 POWs are believed to be still alive in the North.

The history of South Korean prisoners of war dates back 60 years ago. Armistice negotiations for ending the Korean War began in July 1951. At the time, the communists demanded forced repatriation of all prisoners of war, while the U.N. insisted on voluntary repatriation of the prisoners’ own free will. Right before the armistice, the Syngman Rhee government in South Korea suddenly released tens of thousands of anticommunist prisoners, resulting in a deepening conflict between the South and the North over the issue of South Korean POWs. As the U.S. and the Soviet Union intended to end the war quickly, the U.N. and the communists exchanged POWs in July 1953 under the principle of voluntary repatriation. South Korea sent 76-thousand prisoners back to the North, but only 8,300 South Korean soldiers returned home. The remaining prisoners in the North are believed to have been sent to remote coal mines to work as forced laborers.

North Korea classifies its people into three classes. There is the core class, the wavering class and the hostile class. Members of the hostile class are subject to tight control, surveillance and discriminatory treatments. South Korean POWs belong to this class. According to the testimonies of escaped South Korean prisoners and North Korean defectors, most of the POWs were sent to coal mines in North and South Hamgyeong Provinces to suffer from forced labor in dire living conditions. Not only the prisoners but also their children face severe discrimination.

A total of 80 South Korean POWs have escaped North Korea to return home since 1994. Those fortunate POWs include Yang Soon-yong who fled from the North with his two daughters in 1997. But why has the POW issue remained unsettled, although it’s been nearly 60 years since the end of the Korean War?

The root cause of the problem is North Korea, which sent the South Korean prisoners to coal mines to exploit their labor instead of returning them home. North Korea claims that the nation handed all prisoners over to the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission at the time of the agreement of POW exchange. That is, North Korea continues to deny the existence of any South Korean POWs on its land. Therefore, it is quite hard to resolve this thorny issue. The South Korean government has persistently raised this issue at inter-Korean ministerial meetings and Red Cross talks. But the simple mentioning of the issue sparked North Korea’s strong opposition, and in many cases, North Korean delegates stormed out of the meeting room. There has been little progress in this issue due to North Korea’s aggressive attitude.

To address the problem, several plans are being discussed in South Korea. West Germany’s “freikauf” method, among others, is drawing special attention. Before unification, West Germany paid the price of bringing dissidents and political prisoners in East Germany to the West. The project, meaning “buying freedom,” continued from 1963 to 1989, and West Germany delivered goods worth 3.46 billion German marks to East Germany for repatriating 33,755 people to West Germany. South Korean Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said in a press conference last year that the formation of a pan-governmental taskforce was being discussed for the repatriation of South Korean POWs and abductees in North Korea, adding that a method similar to freikauf could be included in potential repatriation options. But diplomatic experts point out that there are a myriad of tasks, even if the government actually decides to implement this method.

If the South Korean government officially announces a plan to bring back POWs in North Korea and uses the issue for political purposes, it will certainly face an angry backlash from Pyongyang. Therefore, Seoul needs to push for the plan in secret, as West Germany did. In that case, the National Assembly should approve the plan behind closed doors and cooperation from the media as well as the families of the POWs will be absolutely necessary. Another serious problem is that a considerable amount of goods offered by South Korea to the North could be diverted for some other purposes that might influence South Korea’s security negatively. Even if Seoul decides to provide goods to the North to resolve the POW issue, it must screen the items properly so they won’t pose a threat to national security.

Mr. Kim cites many other problems, such as the aging prisoners and the future of their family members who may still be in North Korea even after the prisoners return to the South.

img src=https://worldimg.kbs.co.kr/src/images/oth_tnt/dot01.gif align="absmiddle"> Most POWs were held in North Korea in the 1950s. Even if they were in their 20s at the time, they will be pretty old now. And they are aging fast, so it is a matter of great urgency. The North Korean authorities coaxed the South Korean POWs into becoming North Korean citizens by marrying North Korean women and starting a family there. If South Korea brings prisoners only, it may give rise to the human rights issue involving their family members who would be left behind in North Korea as separated families. It is assumed that some prisoners have already died there, so South Korea should also consider the returning of their remains. The Defense Ministry is making great efforts to help escaped POWs resettle here in South Korea. I think this matter deserves more attention.

Experts say it is a national responsibility to address the POW issue. Based on public interest and international opinion, the government must form a negotiation channel with North Korea and come up with realistic and pragmatic measures before it is too late.


[Interview] Singing Group of Women Defectors
An apartment in Junggye-dong, northern Seoul, is filled with the sweet sound of singing. A group of grey-haired women are singing a North Korean song, ‘Golden Tree, Apple Tree,’ to the accompaniment of piano. These women are North Korean defectors who are 65 years old or older. They are the members of the singing group, ‘Spring in My Hometown,” which consists of old women defectors from North Korea. Let’s meet with Han Geum-bok, the leader of the “silver chorus” of women defectors, the first such singing group here in South Korea.

This group consists only of senior citizens from North Korea. Unfortunately, they have no place in society and find it hard to get jobs due to their old age. While visiting their houses to offer them counseling service, I found that most of them were simply watching TV. Some said their eyes ached from watching TV too much. It was a depressing life. I wondered how to help them tap into their potential and develop a hobby. And we came up with the idea of organizing a singing group.

The chorus was launched in April last year. Reverend Kim Gyo-ho, who led a religious gathering for North Korean newcomers, floated the idea of creating a choir consisting of the members with the purpose of helping them resettle in South Korea and provide volunteer service through music. The project drew surprisingly enthusiastic responses from defectors. Organizers even had to give an audition to select the final 25 members. Most of them received no education in music, but they are no less passionate than professional singers. It wasn’t always easy to carry out the choir project, though. The members couldn’t even read music so the instructor had to teach them every single sound. One day, they were singing at a member’s house because they couldn’t afford to rent a practice room. But police officers were dispatched to the house upon a neighbor’s noise complaint. They often practiced singing with the windows shut in the middle of summer, enduring the heat for the purpose of perfecting their craft. They rehearsed intensively, trusting one another as North Korean expatriates with the confidence that they could do it. The result was amazing. The chorus was able to hold its first performance in December last year at the Korean Ecumenical Building in Seoul. The show drew loud applause from the audience.

We were so happy to hold our first regular performance. We sang 12 songs in three sessions. We sang the pieces without reading music but none of us sang incorrectly. I realized once again that the members were excellent. Although we are old, we can still develop the chorus if we all join forces. We even thought that we could organize this chorus in our home country after unification.

The singing group’s activities also include visiting nursing homes and welfare centers to engage in volunteer work through music. Ms. Han says the members are eager to go anywhere as long as people need them.

The purpose of the chorus is more than just to enjoy singing. As defectors, we have received help from the government since we arrived in South Korea but we’ve done few things in return. So we’re volunteering to visit welfare facilities to comfort people there through music in the hope of putting love and sharing into practice. We’ll stick together to sing better and offer volunteer services more enthusiastically. We hope that we will develop the choir further so we can stage regular performances, hold a concert tour around Korea and also hold a performance in America. To this end, we’ll try our best.

The choir members were able to heal their emotional scars and regain their energy by singing. While watching them sing, many people may well find hope that it is never too late to try something new and take up a challenge. Let’s give the singers a big hand.