Lawmakers Urge NK to Apologize for Kidnappings
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers concerned with human rights in North Korea and faith-based groups condemned North Korea Wednesday for offering no apology for its kidnapping of South Koreans in the past.
They called on the government to stand firm on the matter and take measures to better protect South Koreans.
During an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the late Pastor Kim Dong-sik being kidnapped by a North Korean agent, Rep. Hwang Woo-yea of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) urged the North to apologize for the incident.
Hwang serves as chairman of the International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees' Human Rights (IPCNKR), an international association of lawmakers concerned with the human rights situation in the reclusive state.
Hwang and his fellow IPCNKR lawmakers condemned Pyongyang for its denial of the kidnapping of South Koreans, saying the North applied a double standard to the matter.
``During a summit with Japan in 2002, North Korea apologized for its kidnapping of Japanese citizens. But it showed few signs of taking a similar measure with the South,'' said a statement issued by the lawmakers.
They claimed that several South Korean nationals, including fishermen, were still held by the Stalinist state.
Also joining the event were two local Christian groups and the Anti-Human Crime Investigation Committee.
The late pastor and missionary Kim (1947-2001) was kidnapped by a North Korean agent back in January 2000 in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, northeastern China.
North Korean authorities claimed that Kim's crossing the borderline was voluntary. It also reportedly tried to forcefully convince Kim to defect and praise its regime, which Kim refused.
Kim had assisted Korean refugees for 12 years, while alive. In November 1999, he helped 13 North Koreans escape the communist state through Mongolia and settle in the South afterwards.
From 1988 to 2000, he served as a missionary in the northeastern Chinese province where many North Korean refugees lived.
The pastor helped North Korean athletes and staff during the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996 as a volunteer.
He died in February 2001 in the North, a year after he vanished in China.
His kidnapping was known later after the South Korean authorities investigated a North Korean spy, named Lee Chun-ghil, during the Kim Dae-jung administration.
IPCNKR members alleged that the Kim government tried to cover up the case due to the possible negative effect on inter-Korean relations.
The late former President, an architect of the Sunshine Policy of engaging North Korea, had implemented a set of engagement policies toward Pyongyang, believing that dialogue was more effective than containment.