N. Korea willing to return war prisoners in exchange for economic benefits: sources

BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has conveyed to South Korea that it is
willing to return some South Korean war prisoners and civilian abductees in
exchange for economic benefits, sources said Monday.

Pyongyang made the proposal through various channels, hoping to resume
inter-Korean economic exchange projects that have been suspended amid chilled
ties this year, the sources well-versed in North Korean issues said on condition
of anonymity.
They said the Seoul government was positively considering the proposal.
The defense ministry estimates about 560 South Korean prisoners of the 1950-53
Korean War are still held in the communist country. More than 230 prisoners of
war and their families have been returned or defected from the North since 1994.
The Unification Ministry said it was not aware of the North Korean proposal.
"I've not heard of it," Kim Ho-nyoun, the ministry spokesman, said.
Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong is currently visiting Beijing to meet with
senior Chinese officials on the North Korean nuclear stalemate and frozen
inter-Korean relations.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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