Government efforts
The South Korean government has implemented policies aimed at resolving the abductee issue in accordance with the basic government obligation to protect its nationals. Article 4 of the Act on Compensation and Assistance for Post-war Abductees after the Conclusion of the Military Armistice Agreement stipulates the ‘duty of the state’ to resolve the abductee issue as follows: “The government shall make efforts to identify the survival, repatriation, and reunion of the abductees to the North and ensure their stable re-settlement upon their return to South Korea”. The South Korean government has attempted to resolve the abductee issue using two means in parallel, i.e. fundamentally through South-North dialogue and partially through the reunion of separated families. It has urged North Korea to resolve the abductee issue on every occasion of dialogue between the South and North while maintaining the position that the abductee issue should be resolved in the near future so that the two sides can develop a mature relationship. However, there are many obstacles to and difficulties in resolving the issue since the North continues to argue that “there are no abductees in North Korea at all”.
The South Korean government has repeatedly urged North Korea to repatriate all the abductees detained in the North using diverse means, including their name in full, letters, written notices and South-North talks, whenever it has been ascertained that a South Korean has been kidnapped by the North. The government has also attempted to resolve the issue using international organizations while drawing attention to the issue within the international community.
It also operates the Committee on Deliberation Compensation and Support for Abduction Victims and the Committee for Developing Measures for Helping Abductees to the North.
The South Korean government has implemented policies aimed at resolving the abductee issue in accordance with the basic government obligation to protect its nationals. Article 4 of the Act on Compensation and Assistance for Post-war Abductees after the Conclusion of the Military Armistice Agreement stipulates the ‘duty of the state’ to resolve the abductee issue as follows: “The government shall make efforts to identify the survival, repatriation, and reunion of the abductees to the North and ensure their stable re-settlement upon their return to South Korea”. The South Korean government has attempted to resolve the abductee issue using two means in parallel, i.e. fundamentally through South-North dialogue and partially through the reunion of separated families. It has urged North Korea to resolve the abductee issue on every occasion of dialogue between the South and North while maintaining the position that the abductee issue should be resolved in the near future so that the two sides can develop a mature relationship. However, there are many obstacles to and difficulties in resolving the issue since the North continues to argue that “there are no abductees in North Korea at all”.
The South Korean government has repeatedly urged North Korea to repatriate all the abductees detained in the North using diverse means, including their name in full, letters, written notices and South-North talks, whenever it has been ascertained that a South Korean has been kidnapped by the North. The government has also attempted to resolve the issue using international organizations while drawing attention to the issue within the international community.
It also operates the Committee on Deliberation Compensation and Support for Abduction Victims and the Committee for Developing Measures for Helping Abductees to the North.
The South Korean government has endeavored to settle the abductee issue through cooperation with the international community based on international conventions, including the United Nations and other international organizations. In connection with the kidnapping of the KAL aircraft in 1969, the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) denounced North Korea’s hijacking of the aircraft in 1970. The South Korean government has closely cooperated with the international community, resulting in the adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council and the General Assembly to denounce North Korea’s aircraft hijacking in the same year. The South Korean government convinced the 61st UN General Assembly session in 2006 to adopt a resolution agreeing to the resolution of human right issues in North Korea, including the abductee issue. (Abstained in 2007) Since 2008, the South Korean government has carried out various activities,
including its participation in joint proposals and agreement to resolutions on human rights in North Korea. Since 2014, its recommendation to refer North Korea human rights to the International Criminal Court was added to the UN General Assembly’s resolution on human rights in North Korea
In addition, the government assisted the submission of a petition soliciting efforts to check and ascertain the survival of the abductees to the North to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). So far, 55 petitions concerning the post-war abductees have been submitted to the WGEID. North Korea has replied to 26 of the 27 cases that have been delivered to it among the 55 petitions. However, North Korea has persistently criticized the activities of the WGEID, stating, “The issue related to abductees to the North is a political maneuver and is thus irrelevant to the humanitarian mission of the WGEID. Meanwhile, the South Korean government has striven to improve the human rights of North Koreans by actively supporting and cooperating with the activities of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul, which was opened in June 2015.
