The government will seek legislation to bring back South Koreans kidnapped by North Korea and to compensate abduction victims and the family members residing in South Korea.

The proposed special law also aims to confirm the whereabouts of abduction victims and to help them resettle in the South after their repatriation.

The law, however, will only benefit South Koreans abducted by the North after the signing of the armistice agreement on July 27th, 1953.

The government said that the law will exclude those kidnapped during the Korean War, citing that kidnappings during a war are different from those in peacetime.

The government believes 485 South Koreans have been abducted by the North since the end of the war.