Family calls on China to release abducted fisherman who fled N. Korea

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- The family of an abducted fisherman who escaped North
Korea into China last year urged the Seoul government to push Beijing for his
immediate return in what officials describe as a "unique case."

Yun Jong-su, 67, was abducted by North Korea along with 32 other crewmen aboard
the fishing boat Cheonghwang-ho while operating in the East Sea in 1975.
Yun, who married an ethnic Korean from Japan, fled the communist state alone in
May last year and has since been under the protection of a South Korean consular
office in northeastern China. Yun's wife and daughter were arrested by North
Korean authorities while trying to flee with him, Yun's brothers, who live in
South Korea, said.
The Chinese government has not allowed Yun to come to Seoul, unlike other
abductees and Korean War prisoners who are usually sent to the South in less than
3 months, officials and activists say.
"He was taken there in his early 30s, and he's now in his late 60s," his younger
brother, Yun Ju-ok, said during a visit to Seoul's unification and foreign
affairs ministries to lodge a protest on his behalf.
"Those years he lived looking toward the southern sky, with his family here. Now
he is detained in the consular office, again separated from his family in the
North. How could his pain be measured?"
Seoul officials could not comment on why China was barring Yun from leaving the
country.
"It's somewhat an exceptional, unique case," a Unification Ministry official said.
At least 560 former South Korean soldiers are still believed to be held in the
communist North since they were taken prisoner during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Seoul officials say the North also abducted 494 civilians -- mostly fishermen
operating in the East and Yellow seas -- during the Cold War era.
Pyongyang denies holding the former soldiers as prisoners of war and claims they
have chosen to remain in the North. The North also denies kidnapping the
fishermen.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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