‘They made us work day and night’: South Korean prisoner of war for over 50 years recalls life in the North

FAMILIES STILL FIGHTING FOR SOLDIERS’ RECOGNITION

Ms Son still recalls her father sharing stories about his life in the South.
 
“He made me memorise his military number, K11, and warned me not to write it down because it could get me killed,” she said. 
 
“So I kept it in my memory, along with the names of my grandparents and his address in his hometown, just in case I could visit if reunification happened.”
 
Recalling the inter-Korean summit in 2000, Ms Son said: “When South Korean president Kim Dae-jung went to North Korea, at that time, not every household had a TV. 
 
“Our fathers, the prisoners of war, went to the houses that had TVs to watch the visit of the nation’s leader. The prisoners of war wondered if they would be mentioned, but there wasn’t a single word about them.”
 
She added that many families are still fighting for the prisoners of war to be recognised by the South Korean government for their service. 
 
For now, those who never returned are marked as missing or assumed dead, and are not honoured as war heroes.
 
Mr Gordon Kang, senior analyst at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said reunification – and allowing these South Koreans who are still in North Korea to return – is still a core national goal for South Korea. 
 
But under current geopolitical circumstances, it is “difficult” to envision reconciliation happening in the near term, he told CNA’s East Asia Tonight on Tuesday (July 25).