[USFK Forums] Abductee to NK Reunited with Mother [Yonhap-Korea Times]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee, Wednesday, November 9, 2005] Here is a news from Mt. Kumgang in North Korea, reporting a reunion of a South Korean fisherman now in North Korea with his mother from South Korea as follows:
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Abductee to NK Reunited With Mother

The Korea Times, Tuesday, November 8, 2005

By Seo Dong-shin & Joint Press Corps, Staff Reporter

[Photo] A South Korean woman, named Kim Chong-shim, right, holds tight her son, Chung Il-nam, who is believed to have been abducted to the North, during the family reunion at Mt. Kumgang in North Korea, Tuesday. / Yonhap

MT. KUMGANG _ A South Korean fisherman who is believed to have been abducted by a North Korean patrol boat 18 years ago met his mother during the second round of the 12th family reunion sessions that started here Tuesday.

Kim Chong-shim, 72, of South Cholla Province in the South, is a member of the second batch of 145 South Koreans who are visiting the mountain resort for a reunion with their long-lost family members residing in the North. Her son, Chung Il-nam, now 49, was allegedly abducted near the West Sea border to the North in January 1987, while aboard on Tongjin No. 27 along with 11 other fishermen.

The South Korean government believes they were kidnapped by North Korea, but the communist country has been claiming the fishermen crossed the border voluntarily. With a tacit approval, South and North Korea have made up some 5 percent of the separated family members for reunion sessions of those of South Korean abductees or prisoners of war (POWs) taken during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Meanwhile, Han Sam-im, 100, the oldest South Korean woman in the group, was reunited with the wife and the son of her deceased eldest son who had lived in the North since the end of the war. Han’s husband, Kim Yong-baek, was engaged in communist activities before the war broke out. Upon rumors that family members of communists would be killed, Han fled to the North with her eldest son and second son. But she lost her eldest son during the confusion of her flight.

The second batch of South Koreans will return home Thursday, after wrapping up the family reunion sessions. One hundred people selected from each side met with their family members separated between the two divided Koreas. Since the first round of family reunion sessions in August 2000, some 11,100 separated family members have been reunited.

During the meetings, some 27,400 separated family members acquired information on the lives of their lost ones across the border.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr 11-08-2005 19:46