Former North Korean POWs Return To South Korea
It is interesting that someone has decided to look up and see what happened to the 76 North Korean POWs after the Korean War Armistice was signed, decided to be resettled in a third country instead of remaining in South Korea or going back to North Korea:
Back in the country where they were detained as prisoners of war in the 1950s, two former North Korean soldiers now find little apparent objection or hostility, at least superficially — they were even welcomed by veterans who had fought for the South. But it’s also a trip that brings back bitter memories of war and puts them on the defensive again.
They are among the 76 North Korean POWs held in South Korea who opted to resettle abroad at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Labeled traitors, opportunists or fence-sitters amid fierce Cold War rivalry between the Koreas, they’ve died abroad one by one and now less than a dozen are still believed to be alive.
Kim Myeong Bok and Kang Hi-dong came back to South Korea on July 23 with a South Korean movie director who’s making a documentary on ex-POWs.
The film, titled “Return Home,” is intended to trace back their turbulent lives, but the men may not be able to make one important stop. Pyongyang has not given them permission to enter North Korea.
Kim, who is 79 and lives in Brazil, is desperate to return because he thinks this is his last chance.
“I left my home when I was young and I don’t know whether my family is still alive or not. What I’ve been wishing is visiting my hometown before I die,” Kim told reporters in a tearful news conference in Seoul late last month. “My father and mother must have passed away … I still want to see even their ashes.” [Associated Press]
You can read the rest at the link, but the main reason for the POWs going to a third country was fear of discrimination in South Korea for being a former Communist and the fear of being punished for being captured by North Korea. Pictures of the former POW camp they were held at in South Korea can be viewed at the below link:
