Kim, who was reunited with his mother on Wednesday, 28 years after he disappeared from a beach in North Jeolla Province, was giving a press conference in the North’s Mt.Kumgang Hotel. "In August 1978, I went to Sunyu island beach, but the two older friends with me started to become abusive toward me.” Kim told reporters. “To protect myself I took a wooden raft out to sea but fell asleep, and when I woke up I’d drifted out into open waters.” After being rescued by a North Korean vessel, Kim “went to the North,” he said.

Kim Young-nam, who disappeared from a beach in South Korea 28 years ago, speaks to reporters at the Mt.Kumgang Hotel in North Korea flanked by his mother and sister on Thursday. Kim says he drifted off and was rescued by a North Korean ship.

"I was frightened, but little by little I became closer to the people of the North, and my heart softened. After looking around from place to place, my perceptions of the North changed," Kim said at the tightly managed press conference. "Especially since I was able to study for free in the North, I thought it would be alright if I studied here and then returned to my hometown later. Now 28 years have come and gone."

Kim said Yokota was unstable even before they got married. “After giving birth her depression got worse and she showed signs of mental disturbance… until on April 13, 1994 she committed suicide in hospital," Kim said. "I met with Japanese government officials who traveled to Pyongyang in 2004 and gave them a detailed explanation” of the circumstances surrounding Yokota’s death, and handed over her remains. He said Tokyo’s claim that DNA tests show Yokota’s purported remains to be those of two other people were “clumsy and childish allegations.”

Kim appealed to reporters to stop using him and his family’s story “for impure political aims.” He said he wanted a quiet life and expressed hope his statement would close the matter.

The 45-year-old denied any knowledge of other South Koreans presumed to have been abducted at around the same time. “I really don't know," he said.

His life in the Korean Workers Party’s bosom was happy, he said, adding he “did not envy the lives of others” -- a reference to calls for his repatriation to the South. Asked if he would like to visit his hometown, Kim said, “Considering the situation that the North and the South face, it is premature to think about that. If the circumstances are right, I will visit.”

A graduate of Kim Il Sung National War College, Kim says he works “in the field of reunification.” He is believed to have worked training spies.

(englishnews@chosun.com )