When will North Korea release my father?

Hwang In-cheol speaks about his father detained in North Korea near Imjingak's Freedom Bridge, Dec. 11, the 52nd anniversary of North Korea's hijacking of KAL YS-11.

On Dec. 11, 1969, a North Korean agent hijacked a South Korean airplane and redirected it to North Korea. Of the 50 passengers and crew, 11 were detained in North Korea, including Hwang Won. For the past two decades, his son, Hwang In-cheol, has been campaigning to have his father released from North Korea. He is deputy of the 1969 KAL Abductees' Families Association. ― Ed.

By Hwang In-cheol

I cannot express my gratitude enough to Freedom Speakers International, which made the campaign "Bring My Father Home" possible. Without their support, I would probably be standing alone at the back gate of the government complex, calling for the repatriation of my father and making a scene by weeping in distress.

Now I am not alone. We as a team have started to let the international community know about hijacked Korean Air Lines flight YS-11. We have raised our voices to bring my father home. Over the past five years, the United Nations Human Rights Council has learned about the hijacking and requested North Korea to repatriate the abductees in accordance with international principles and order.

It was 52 years ago today. I was two years old then. My father, an MBC producer, went aboard the plane for a business trip. Ten minutes after take-off, the plane was hijacked by a North Korean agent named Cho Chang-hee, above Daegwallyeong, a high-mountain pass in eastern South Korea. Fifty South Koreans, including crew members, were abducted.

As the international community condemned North Korea's hijacking and abduction, the North Korean regime promised to send all the abductees back to South Korea on Feb. 4 1970. But it broke its promise: Only 39 of them were repatriated on Feb. 14.

The 39 passengers witnessed that the 11 others, including my father, remained forcefully detained in North Korea.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) immediately requested North Korea to return the 11 South Koreans. But North Korea claimed they were remaining in North Korea of their own free will.,

The ICRC wanted to independently confirm this through third party sources and countries. But North Korea refused to allow this.

The international community continuously protested. In June 1970, the?International Civil Aviation Organization asked North Korea to repatriate the 11 abductees. In September 1970, the U.N. Security Council made the same request. In December 1970, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on the hijacking of aircraft. An international convention on the prevention and suppression of aircraft hijacking was followed. It was all aimed at remembering the 11 abductees.

The fight still isn't over. I invite you to join in helping to end the journey of Korean Air Lines flight?YS-11. I would urge you to ask your family members and friends to sign the online petition "When will North Korea release my father?"

Thank you very much.

Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of Freedom Speakers International and co-chair of the Bring My Father Home coalition, edited this text for publication. Ha Du-lyeon translated Hwang's speech from Korean into English.

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