Cash Demand Irks Those Who Suffered

“How can I be compensated for my miserable life in North Korea which I don’t want to even recall?”

On the afternoon of December 8 in the office of the association of families of those kidnapped by North Korea in Sincheon-dong, Songpa-gu, Lee Jae-geun held a letter of complaint addressed to the Workers’ Party of North Korea. He stared at the letter, his hands shaking.

Lee was a member of the crew of a trawler, the Bongsan 22, whose 27 crewmembers were fishing off Yeonpyeong-do in the West Sea when they were kidnapped by a North Korean patrol ship on April 29, 1970. Among the kidnapped fishermen, 19 were repatriated to South Korea together with the trawler on November 29, 1970, seven months after they were abducted. However, eight, including Lee were detained in North Korea against their will.

Lee entered the North Korean central party school, which trains spies for the reunification of the Korean peninsula by the communist regime. For two and a half years, he got special training for espionage work against South Korea. However, Lee was not assigned to the department of operations against South Korea because he was “ideologically unqualified.” Instead, Lee worked as a laborer in a ship motor plant in Hamju-gun, Southern Hamgyong Province, for 25 years.

Lee’s life in North Korea was a living hell. Under constant observation and pressure, Lee could not put up with the food shortages any more. He escaped from North Korea in August 1998 with three family members, including his wife, whom he married in North Korea.

Lee said, “When I was trained as a spy in North Korea, I was not able to rest even for a moment from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. of the next day. That routine continued every day. And in particular, during swimming training, they used to push me into the water forcefully and leave me in the water for 24 hours.”

Referring to North Korean prisoners who served long sentences in South Korea because they refused to convert and were finally repatriated to North Korea, he said, “I heard that the North Korean prisoners are demanding compensation from the South Korean government. However, they were able to get back to their homes comfortably due to the humanitarian measures of the South Korean government. On the contrary, even now, those who were abducted by North Korea are risking their lives just to return to their homes.” He raised his voice, saying, “You cannot compare them with us.”

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