Lee Sung-eui, chairman of the Association of Families of Abductees During the Korean War, delivers remarks at a ceremony marking Korean War Abductees Remembrance Day in Paju, South Korea, on June 28, 2025. File. Photo by Yonhap News Agency
Feb. 12 (Asia Today) — Families of South Koreans abducted during the 1950-53 Korean War have asked the government to allow visits to suspected burial sites in North Korea, expressing urgency ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Association of Families of Abductees During the Korean War recently met Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-joong at the Government Complex in Seoul, according to the ministry and the group.
At the meeting, association chairman Lee Sung-eui requested government support for visits to graves in North Korea and for efforts to recover and repatriate the remains of abductees.
“It has been 76 years since our family members were taken away,” Lee said Thursday. “Many second-generation family members are elderly and wish, before they die, to see even a trace of their fathers or brothers.”
She said families want to learn how their loved ones lived and died, visit possible burial sites and pay respects.
Kim explained that current inter-Korean relations, which remain severed, make grave visits and recovery of remains difficult. However, he said that if dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang resumes, issues involving separated families would be treated as urgent humanitarian matters.
Families believe some abductees may be buried in so-called “Martyrs’ Tombs” in North Korea, where individuals are described by the North as having voluntarily defected. They argue that government policy should expand beyond confirming whether abductees are alive or seeking their return to also include the recovery and repatriation of remains.
Lee previously raised the issue at a U.N. Security Council briefing last May, calling for the return of remains if abductees are confirmed dead. A U.N. General Assembly resolution adopted in December also urged, for the first time, the repatriation of abductees’ remains.
Separately, Kim met Thursday with the mother of Lee Min-kyo, a high school student abducted in 1977, and pledged continued government efforts.
The ministry said Kim is scheduled to attend a memorial ceremony for separated families on Lunar New Year’s Day and meet with family group leaders.
“We will faithfully reflect the voices of those affected by division, including separated families and wartime abductees, in policy and continue efforts to resolve humanitarian issues,” the ministry said.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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