June 23, 2005, Chungang Ilbo, p. 11
North Korean Abductee Families’ “Miari Hill of Tears”
Following the path their loved one’s took, with two hands tied up


Yu Jong Geun (71) sang the song “the Head of Miari Hill” as he climbed over the hill on the afternoon of the 21st. The song let him remember his older brother, who was abducted by North Korea in 1950 while worked as an interpreter. Walking barefoot from Seodaemun to Miari, Yu shed tears as he said, “Just like the song’s lyrics, my brother crossed over this hill with his two hands tied up with rope.”

Some 100 family members whose loved one’s were abducted by North Korea during the Korean War gathered in front of the Seodaemun Prison in Hyunjeo-dong on the morning of the 21st. They called on the North and South Korean governments to investigate the fate of those who were abducted during the war.
The participants reenacted the way the abductions took place by walking from Seodaemun to the site of an old Korean Workers Party office in Cheolwon-gun, Gangwon province. Those participating in the event walked a total of 16 kilometres and experienced firsthand the difficulties abductees faced so long ago.

As the walk began, volunteer university students dressed up like North Korean soldiers began forcing the roped family members to walk in a line. As they walked, the family members yelled out slogans such as “Find our family” and “55 years of separation is too long.” Kim Hang Tae (76), whose husband was abducted just one year after their marriage, recalled that her husband was hiding in the attic when North Korean soldiers came and took him away.
When the group reached Jongro Tower, a site where many abductees were held during the war, Lee Son Wui (57), whose father was a lawyer, said that, “Just thinking of what hardship my father experienced there makes me indescribably sad.”

After reaching a park in Maroni in Daehakro, the participants took out fist-sized rice balls sprinkled with salt and accompanied by a piece of dried seaweed. On their way north, the abductees were said to have eaten one or two rice balls three times a day. Some of the participants ate standing up, recalling the pain that their family members suffered. After reaching a pine grove in Ui-dong that night, the participants took a bus to the site of the old Korean Workers’ Party office.

After gathering in the old Korean Workers’ Party building, the family members called out the names of their love one’s in the direction of North Korea. Lee Sang Il (56) held an old photo of her father, who had worked as a public servant until being taken to Seodaemun Prison and later abducted to North Korea. “My mother sewed and worked as a housekeeper to raise me,” she said, crying. “Father, where are you?”

The total number of people abducted by North Korea during the Korean War stands currently at 82,959. According to declassified U.S. documents, some 10,000 - 20,000 people in Seoul were massacred or taken to North Korea in the days before Seoul was recaptured by friendly forces. In September 2002, North and South Korea agreed to call the abductees “those whose whereabouts became unknown during the war” and begin an investigation into their fate, but so far, there has been no progress.