[USFK Forums] South Korean fishermen sue N. Korea for abduction [AFP]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Tuesday, January 10, 2006

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Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 09 January 2006 1718 hrs

South Korean fishermen sue North Korea for abduction

SEOUL(AFP) - Four South Korean fishermen sued North Korea for million of dollars in damages, saying they were kidnapped, tortured and used as forced labour for decades by the Stalinist state.

The four demanded 100 million dollars each from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and his ruling Workers Party in an unprecedented case filed with South Korea's Human Rights Commission.

The four were abducted separately over a period of eight years from 1967 and managed to escape separately and return to South Korea between 2001 and last year.

"The four, who were kidnapped by the North Korean regime, have sustained irreparable damage, both mental and physical," the complaint read.

The men said they were abducted and then subjected to harsh treatment including torture, according to the complaint. They were then forced to train as spies or work at labour camps in the communist state for decades before escaping to the South.

The complaint came just two days after North Korea demanded billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea.

The North said in a petition to Seoul's Human Rights Commission Friday that its long-term prisoners should be compensated for their time in "nightmarish prisons" run by former authoritarian governments in the South.

The Seoul government gave no official response to the North's call which angered South Korean politicians.

South Korea repatriated 63 North Korean long-term prisoners, mostly prisoners of war or spies who refused to abjure communism, in 2000 after a reconciliation summit with North Korea.

Most prisoners from both sides were exchanged soon after the 1950-1953 Korean War. But some North Koreans left behind in the South were captured in the post-war period and jailed. Others were arrested for spying.

But the North has given no meaningful response to the South's repeated demands to repatriate hundreds of South Korean prisoners of war and civilians held in the communist state.

More than 540 South Korean prisoners of war are still held in the North, according to the defence ministry in Seoul. Another 500 or more South Korean abductees are also said to be held in the North.

A UN resolution in November expressed concern about reports on torture, public executions, the imposition of the death penalty for political reasons and the extensive use of forced labour in North Korea. - AFP/de

[mike]

Good luck with getting the UN to do anything! All they do is "express concern" and go to dinner parties. The UN did nothing during the last Sudan genocide and has done nothing with the human rights violations in North Korea. Also, most of the UN people are looking for more income since the "Food-for-oil" money has dried up!

Mike