|
A 67-year-old South Korean fisherman fled North Korea and was reunited with his wife in China after 32 years. He was kidnapped by North Koreans in 1975 while squid fishing in the East Sea. In the eyes of his wife, the fisherman, Choi Uk-il, was no longer the healthy man in his 30s he had been the last time she laid eyes on him. Instead, he was a sunburned old man weighing just 48 kilograms.
Choi is not a North Korean refugee, but a South Korean citizen. It is the basic duty of a government to protect its own citizens and the reason why a government exists. But for this government, a citizen kidnapped by North Koreans is more of a nuisance.
The person who got Choi out of North Korea was no other than his own wife. She had requested the aid of her government, but it was no use. She had to use the money she had saved as a cleaning lady to finance her husband¡¯s escape.
In China, the Chois called the South Korean consulate in Shenyang on Tuesday. Officials at the consulate transferred her from one department to another, telling her either that it wasn¡¯t their job to help them, or that they should call South Korea, or that they didn¡¯t know what to do. One consulate employee who was reached by mobile phone snapped back and demanded where they had gotten that number.
An aid group helping abducted South Koreans sent a letter to the South Korean government notifying them of Choi¡¯s escape. But it appears the government did not inform any member of the consulate of the fact. It was just a month ago that the South Korean public was outraged after one of South Korean embassy staff in China hung up on a South Korean POW who had escaped from North Korea.
There are more than 400 South Koreans who have been abducted by North Korea since the Korean War and there are thousands of family members who have no idea whether they are dead or alive. But this government thinks it is more important not to anger North Korea. When North Korea glared back in anger, the South Korean government started referring to abductees using an ambiguous term called ¡°those whose life or death cannot be verified.¡± When a South Korean journalist used the term ¡°abductee,¡± a South Korean government official ended up offering North Korea what was virtually an apology. This contrasts starkly with Japan¡¯s actions of increasing diplomatic pressure to get a North Korean admission of abductions and the prime minister himself taking the lead in getting abductees to return home. For Koreans whose family members were abducted by North Korea, this is possible only in their dreams.
When he had to say goodbye to his wife a day after they were reunited, he cried and begged her to take him with her. She also cried in agony, asking why the South Korean government wouldn¡¯t help him after she got him out of North Korea. One day, the crushed dreams and hearts of South Koreans will fall down on the government like an iron hammer.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
