Abductee: An Ho-cheol
Recorded Date: October 10th, 2005


Profile of Abductee

Name: An Ho-cheol (male)
Date of Birth: February 13, 1934
Place of Birth: Gangwon-do, South Korea
Last Address: 388 Changdong-ri, Bong-pyeong-myeon, Pyeong-chang-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea
Date of Abduction: August 17, 1950 (age 16)
Place of Abduction: Home
Occupation: Student (Chun-cheon Middle School)
Education/Career: Middle school
Dependents: Father, Mother, 1 Sister, 1 Brother
Appearance/Personality: Wearing Glasses, Burn Scar on His Leg


Profile of Witnesses

Name: 1. Kim Jik-ja(born in 1915) 2. An Cheong-ja (born in 1940)
Relation: 1. Mother 2. Sister
Type of Witnesses: 1. Direct witness 2. Indirect witness


Summary of the Abduction

- When the Korean War broke out, his family tried to evacuate but they had to come back to his home (Bong-pyeong) because of Communists already encircled around them.
- He was 4th grade in Chun-cheon Middle School at the time of abduction.
- Late at night on August 14th 1950, Communists came to take An Sang-Mong, abductees’ father and the chairman of civil defense, away but he ran away through a window.
- Instead of taking An Sang-mong away, they took An Ho-chul, his son. He was released after three days but they got him again. We never had any news since then.
- An Ho-chul remained a note that described the details of the situation in which he was taken by Communists the first time. With friends he also did the work of distributing information papers in which contained news about the recapture of Seoul.
- Although 60 years have passed, his whereabouts has not been revealed due to the noncooperation of North Korea.


Detail of the Abduction

Q. Please tell us about the abduction in detail.

A1. My husband, Abductee’s father, was the chairman of civil defense so he did much of volunteer work. He evacuated and came back during the war. When he was resting at home, the Communists broke into our house. My husband was barely clothed. There was noisy sound outside and Communists came into our room with a lamp light. When they came in, my husband had been tired and was in a deep sleep. I whisphered, “Honey, people are here with a lamp.” He answered “Okay.” and he fled without wearing any clothes. Communists were shocked when he jumped out through a window. He succeeded hiding his brother’s house, but his son (An Ho-chul) was taken away instead of him.

On August 14th 1950, they arrested An Ho-chul. They kept him at the Local Station of Internal Bureau for three days and then they sent him to Headquarter of the bureau. When I carried my four-year old baby on my back and waited at the Local Station from 3pm. ~ 7pm. I saw them putting my son and another person on a truck in which took them to main bureau. Then I begged, “Let me go with him.” They answered, “Bitch, you want to die?” Just before the truck left, my son, An Ho-chul bowed and said “Mother, I will be back soon.” He waved his hand until the truck turned the corner. (crying)

As my mother told me about the people of my brother’s age, they hang out and take potatoes in farm. To be noted was that they couldn’t catch abductee’s father and took his son instead. But they let Ho-chul go free on August 15, and then they took him again on August 17. I guess now that they probably thought if they let him go, they might catch his father. Anyway, those times I saw him writing something in his note and left on a shelf. It was a list of their bad activities. From that, I realized what he was doing. From that time, we didn’t attend any gatherings. They kept asking, “Come to learn singing,” or “Just come to learn” Our absence in the meetings gave them a reason of abducting.
He and his friend, who was caught with him, heard some news about Seoul would be soon recovered. My brother was distributing papers which gave a hint of hope to the people lived in Bong-pyeong. My brother and his friend posted the papers even at the town office. Communists would not let them go free. My brother and his friend got caught.”


Reason behind the Abduction

Q. Why do you think he was abducted?

A1. He was a wealthy man and the chairman of civil defense. He used to gather young people and serve rice cakes to Baek-gol military camp (South Korean army). I was a chairman too, so I did volunteer work like bringing rice cakes to Baek-gol military camp. If he had been caught at that time, he would have been killed, but he was alive because he fled. Two people who were caught were killed. That night, he was safe but my son got caught instead of him.

A2. He was taken instead of his father but we saw other abductees’ families, there were many abductees like his age. Bong-pyeong was a nice place, and Ho-chul was a middle school student and his father was rich so they never let him go. When my brother was at Chun-cheon, he evacuated with his uncle but they were surrounded, as the Han River Bridge exploded. The Communist army attacked there, so they gave up to go down to Chun-cheon and came back to Bong-pyeong.


News after the Abduction

Q. Do you know where he was taken to after that?

A1. I was so confused and I went to Pyeong-chang Main Bureau to see my son. It was 40km distance but I walked to get there. They scolded “What the heck are you doing here? Find An Sang-mong and get him to us! If you find him, everything will return normal.” I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t even breathe. that occasion they pushed me and shouted “Get out of here!” I tried to meet my son everyday and this happened every time. When I went to Pyeong-chang again, they treated me cruelty. They shouted “You want to die?” And I asked him “I want to meet him for last time.” They answered “He is not here.” So I asked him “Where is he then?” They said “No. He is not here.” They pushed me to go home so I went back to home. After a few days, other people helped Communists. At that time we still owned a rice mill factory. Once we worked in a rice mill, they put red stickers on everything and they evicted us out of there.

They said that they would give us three days to clean out so I went to Chun-cheon through the mountains, walking for nine days. While we were at Chun-cheon, we couldn’t get any news about him. We spent time in Chun-cheon and we came back to Bong-pyeong.

When we came back, the house was burnt down so we had to rebuild it. I felt heart breaking that I was still alive. My friends lodged petitions. At that time, there were anti-communism groups. We sent documents there and my friends did it too. They said “There are many abductees and we can do nothing. We even can’t find our soldiers back either.” But in the end, the documents disappeared. I felt so impatient and sent a plea to President Chun Du-hwan(tenure:1980~1987) but the plea was returned without any answer.