On February 14th, we went to a forum at the National Assembly to stimulate the discussion on abductions of South Koreans by North Korea. 50 years ago, on December 11th 1969, a South Korean airplane was hijacked and 50 of its passengers abducted to North Korea. The next year on Valentine’s Day, 39 abductees were released to return home. The fate of the remaining 11 people has remained unknown until the present day. While the incident incited fury among many South Koreans — leading thousands to attend a rally protesting the North in the dead of winter — it too became overshadowed by a sudden détente in relations in 1972, when the two sides signed a joint statement for the first time since partition. On Feb. 11 2020, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) sent a letter to Pyongyang urging the regime to repatriate the 11 abductees whose current fates are unknown.
Members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances who penned the letter called on the North Korean regime to “start genuine cooperation to clarify the fate and whereabouts of these 11 individuals as well as all the other disappearance cases.
This Thursday’s forum will discuss 1969 hijacking and the cases of its hostages. One of the speakers at the event is the son of the abducted journalist Hwang Won, who has been campaigning for his father’s return for the last 18 years (their photograph is on the poster).
* Speakers:
— Hwang In-Cheol
(Representative, 1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association)
— Kim Tae-Hoon
[Representative, Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (Hanbyun) & Chairman, People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE)]
— Casey Lartigue Jr.
(Co-founder, Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center – TNKR)
* Organized by:
— National Assembly Human Rights Forum (Rep: Assemblyman Hong Il-pyo)
— 1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association
— Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (Hanbyun)
— Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR)
— People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE)
You can find some more information here