▲ The event of walking along the Korean Wartime abductees’ road ⓒDailyNK


Daily NK article regarding the findings about the Korean War abduction, August 16, 2006 (This article is the English summary of the article in Dong-Ah Ilbo which disturbed North Korea. North Korea responded to the article by publishing its position against the findings.)


“‘Wartime Abduction’ is the Elaborately Planned Crime of Kim Il Sung”
Deep Analysis of ‘the Korean Wartime Abductees’ Reality’



Right after the Korean War, from the end of June to September 1950, 80,000 intellectuals including members of the National Assembly, judges and lawyers and administrators had been abducted by North Korea.

Around 100,000 abductees had been taken to North Korea without knowing the reasons for it during the wartime period. Their families have still suffered from losing their fathers and sons for 56 years. Is that their harsh fate?

However, what was worse is that the South Korea government does not have the official data about the wartime abductees. The worst thing is that it does not have even the exact statistics about when and how many people had been abducted.

On the 13th, the 6.25 War Abductees’ Family Association(Representative: Lee MI Il), the Data Center of Korean War Abduction and professor Kim Myung Ho of Business Management department of Kanglung University made public of the positive analysis of ‘the Korewan Wartime Abductees’ Reality’.

The analytic report showed that for three months right after the Korean War, intellectuals over the countries had been abducted by North Korea on purpose. It says that the abduction was ordered and elaborately schemed by Kim Il Sung.


The 40 page report shows that the reality, incidence background and result of the wartime abduction.


1. How many people had been abducted by North Korea during the Korean War period?

‘The 6.25 Wartime Abductees’ Reality’ are base on 5 documents: 『Seoul Abductees List』(2.438) issued by the Bureau of Statistics under the Bureau of Public Information 『6.25 War Abductees List』(82,959) by the government, 『6.25 War Abductees List』found in the remains of the late Sin Ik Hee (2.316), 『the Displaced People List』(7,034) by the Korea National Red Cross in 1956, 『Abductees List』(17,940) by the Security Policy under the Department of the Interior.

For three months, the authors of the report took out the overlapped people registered on the lists, producing the exact number of the abductees, 96,013.

The age range was that teenage was 20,785(21.6%), the twenties was 51,436(53.6%) and the thirds was 14,773(15.4%). It shows that the abductees ranged usually from teenage to the twenties. In addition, the report found that 338 infants and children under 10 and the old over 60 had been abducted. It seems that infants were taken with their mothers.


2. At which places had the abduction been usually made?

Most of the abductees(40,618, 42.3%) lived in or around Seoul. Other people (11,375, 11.8%) were taken from Kangwon province whose number is highest compared with its population. Regarding this, the report inferred it would be because of approximate distance.


3. When and where had the abduction been usually made?

The report found that 88.2 percent of the abduction had been usually made for three months from July to September in 1950. It pointed out that right after the War, Kim Il Sung ordered the abduction which was made all over the country.

Moreover, North Korean soldiers already knew about the addresses of the abductees, and intentionally searched for them to take to North Korea. The abduction places were ‘their houses’ (72.1%) and ‘around their houses’ (8.2%) that account for 80.3 %. This percentage is anther evidence to show the abduction was intentional.


4. What kinds of people had been abducted?

The jobs of the abductees vary from members of the National Assembly(63), judges(93) and lawyers(100), police officers(1,613), administrators(2,919), soldiers(879), professors and school staffs (863) and doctors and pharmacists(526).

Farmers account for 60.8% of the total number. Given the agriculture was the main industry at that time, the percentage is not that much higher than other jobs. The abductees taken from the countries were usually village chiefs.


5. Why did North Korea abduct the great number of intellectuals?

In 1946, Kim Il Sung revealed a statement saying that, “In order to solve the shortage of intellectuals, we have to take intellectuals from South Korea as well as to find out intellectuals in North Korea.

The wartime abductees had been forcibly taken to North Korea regardless of their intentions. Nevertheless, they have been considered to volunteer to go to North Korea by the South Korean government. The abductees’ families not only have suffered from losing their husbands or sons but also have been considered as pro-communists. The report says until now they have undergone double sufferings.

Representative Lee Mi Il of the 6.25 War Abductees’ Family Association and a leader of the report stated that, “It is very important that the analytical paper about North Korea’s abduction was written on the bases of the positive data. On the ground of the paper, we will require the repatriation of abductees”.