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In order to resolve the problem of South Korean prisoners of war and South Koreans believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents being held against their will in North Korea, the Unification Ministry is said to have told President Lee Myung-bak it would utilize all possible means, including the shouldering of economic costs. The ministry is said to have told the president it would refer to the examples of deals the former West Germany made to secure the release of political prisoners.
The two previous South Korean administrations took a hushed approach and were unable to even raise the issue of its POWs and abducted citizens in front of North Korea, because the communist country does not even acknowledge the existence of such people. It¡¯s a definite sign of progress to see the new administration seek to address this problem head on, unlike previous governments, which treated the welfare of its own citizens with the attitude of a bystander. The government has assessed there are around 540 South Korean prisoners of war still alive in North Korea and around 480 South Korean civilians still being held captive in the North after having been abducted. Most of these people are over 70 years old and well in their 80s and if any more time passes by, their tragic lives will come to an end without being able to set foot on the land of their birth. Their return to South Korea is something that cannot be delayed any further.
The so-called ¡°West German method¡± the Unification Ministry mentioned refers to the relocation to the West of East German political dissidents through secret negotiations. After East Germany set up the Berlin Wall in 1961, West Germany used lawyers as intermediaries and made its first deal with the East for the exchange of eight political dissidents for 320,000 marks. West Germany mobilized religious and civil organizations to lead those endeavors. Through such efforts, 33,755 East German political dissidents were brought over to West Germany until the two sides were reunified in 1989, while around 250,000 separated families were reunited. In return for such efforts, West Germany provided around 3.46 billion marks to East Germany.
There are difficulties in implementing this method directly to the situation involving North and South Korea. The whole picture involving the East-West German talks was not revealed until after reunification. West Germany kept the deals a secret through several changes in administrations, considering East Germany¡¯s reluctance to publicize the fact that it allowed political dissidents to leave in exchange for financial payments.
The North Korean regime puts far more emphasis on pride than the former East Germany did. There is no way North Korea will easily accept the West German method. North Korea will refuse to address the issue if it senses even the slightest possibility that the contents of talks may be revealed. We have no choice but to resolve this problem by finding a ¡°Korean method¡± that suits our counterpart. This is what the National Intelligence Service and the Unification Ministry are supposed to do.
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