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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N.Korea Shrugs Off Request to Come Clean about POWs |
| 2010-11-04 |
| North Korea dismissed a South Korean request to establish whether 10 South Korean prisoners of war and 16 abduction victims are still alive, it emerged on Wednesday. Seoul made the request before the latest reunions of families separated by the Korean War, but Pyongyang said it is "impossible" to find out whether 25 of them are still alive and one is dead. During each of the previous family reunions, the North allowed two to three South Korean POWs or abduction victims to meet their South Korean families, but for the latest reunions between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, the North instead sent four former South Korean soldiers who had been deemed dead by the South Korean government. "The North probably wanted to send a message that there are no South Korean POWs or abduction victims in the North but only 'former South Korean soldiers' or 'former South Korean citizens' who live well there," a government official speculated. This suggests the North will not cooperate with the South to resolve the issue of the missing, even though it is demanding 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer if the reunions are to become a permanent fixture. In 17 rounds of family reunions between 2000 and 2009, it was confirmed what happened to 27 South Korean POWs and 41 abduction victims. Twelve former POWs and 16 abduction victims met their South Korean families. Seoul has so far asked Pyongyang to trace 262 of them, but Pyongyang has said 193 are untraceable and declined to say what happened to the rest. A second round of reunions that began Wednesday brings together 297 people from both sides who have been separated for 60 years. |
| Posted by:Steve White |