Government data shows that 79 South Korean prisoners of war have escaped North Korea and returned home since a now-deceased first lieutenant fled to the South in 1994.

According to a Defense Ministry report submitted to the National Assembly Saturday for parliamentary inquiry purposes, 79 prisoners of war and 182 of their family members have returned to South Korea since 1994.

The ministry believes some 560 South Korean POWs remain alive in North Korea. The ministry is known to have secured a list of their names and other information from the escapees.

The ministry says it will continue to ask Pyongyang, during inter-Korean talks, to acknowledge the existence of South Korean POWs and to repatriate them.