12 Nations to Discuss Victims of N. Korean Abduction
May 06, 2011


The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea will report to Congress on May 12 on its investigation of the North's abductions of foreigners over the past decades.

The ambassadors of South Korea, China, France, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Romania, Singapore and Thailand will attend the session in Washington because citizens of all these countries fell victim to the crime.

In a letter to the 12 countries, committee chairman Richard Allen said the North's abduction policy was traced back to a bizarre campaign led by regime founder Kim Il-sung in 1950.

Some 180,000 foreigners were abducted by North Korean agents over the past 60 years, and many of them are still alive and detained against their will, he said.

Lee Mi-il, President of the activist group Korean War Abductees’ Family Union said, “This occasion, organized by the US HRNK, will be the stepping stone toward introducing a resolution on the North Korean War abductions in the US Congress.”

She added, "If the U.S. Congress adopts a resolution on abduction victims, the North's crimes will become an international issue, which will put heavy pressure on the Kim Jong-il regime."