Abductees Issue Excluded in Declaration
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The Pyongyang declaration Thursday was good news for displaced families, but disappointed families of prisoners of war (POW) and abductees.
On Thursday, President Roh Moo-hyun said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shared the view that the issue of displaced family members separated from each other by the border was an urgent one and reunions should be held more often after a center at Mount Geumgang was completed. The declaration allows video conferencing for the displaced families, too.
The 125,000 people who have applied for the next reunion welcomed the decision. However since most of them are elderly, they said limiting each event to just 100 participants meant time was running out for some. President Roh made this point to Kim in the talks.
A 67-year-old man from North Pyeongan Province in North Korea said he is looking forward to the reunion. ``I heard the center will be open by next March,'' he added.
The families of abductees decided to protest the declaration, holding a rally near the presidential office on Thursday to express their discontent.
Choi Sung-yong, a representative of the abductees' families said, ``It is really upsetting. I wonder whether the government has even tried to talk about us.''
A group comprising families with abducted and detained members in North Korea met Lee Jae-joung, unification minister, before the summit during which Lee promised to address the issue.
They said Roh did not mention the abduction issue, but used the vague expression ``dispersed'' as a whole. The group said the government deprived them of their last piece of hope.
It is estimated there are some 1,000 POWs and abductees in the North. In 2000, the government returned 60 pro-North Korea POWs, but no South Koreans came back in return.
Some displaced family members also were dissatisfied, saying that just meeting their relatives in a restricted places was not enough for those who miss their hometowns. Lim, a 72-year-old, said he wanted to visit his hometown and see his ancestors' tombs. ``The best thing for me would be to visit the place on foot.''
Lee Sang-cheol, head of a separated families group, told the Yonhap News Agency that the first thing the government should have done was to check whether the abductees or POWs were still alive. ``The government missed an important issue,'' he said.
However, National Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo said Friday that he had talked about the issue of POWs at the farewell luncheon in Pyongyang on Thursday.
Kim said he asked Kim Il-chol, the People's Armed Forces Minister, to check whether the prisoners were alive. He added that he asked the minister to consider allowing mail exchanges, reunion of families and repatriation of the POWS.
However, his counterpart allegedly showed no response except for a nod, he said. Kim also said that President Roh also talked about the issue with the North Korean leader.