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Seoul is to work out a plan to bring back South Koreans abducted by North Korea and prisoners of war still languishing there, based on West Germany's policy of giving the East cash and materials in return for the release of political prisoners. The Unification Ministry is to make the announcement in a New Year's policy briefing at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday.
The ministry will also lay out plans to supply daily necessities that would help improve the quality of North Koreans in addition to food and fertilizer aid to the North.
A presidential official said, "Including the families of the abduction victims and POWs in reunion events for separated families is not a basic solution. We've asked the Unification Ministry to come up with a way to make some progress on this issue after studying the German case."
Some 490 South Korean abduction victims and about 560 POWs are believed to be still alive in the North, the government believes. The North denies their existence.
From 1963 to 1989, the West German government brought about 34,000 East German political prisoners to the West in return for 3.44 billion Deutschmarks (about W1.7 trillion, US$1=W1,279). At first, Bonn gave cash but gradually replaced it with crude oil, copper, and coffee.
The ministry apparently plans to use various contact channels with the North to resume talks. If that happens, the government is expected to expand inter-Korean economic cooperation, including a gas pipeline from Russia.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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