Abductee: Choi Jun
Recorded Date: May 23rd, 2005

Profile of Abductee

Name: Choi Jun (male)
Date of Birth: April 14, 1901
Place of Birth: Yanbian, Pyeongbuk, North Korea
Last Address: 137 Jegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Date of Abduction: September 13, 1950 (age 49)
Place of Abduction: Home
Occupation: Teacher in the Daekwang Middle & High School
Education/Career: Yeonhee Junior College / Teacher of Sundeok School and Vice-Principal of Sang Il Middle School
Dependents: Wife, 4 Children
Appearance/Personality: Tall and Westerner-like countenance


Profile of Witness

Name: Choi Gwang-seok (born in 1933)
Relation: First Son
Type of Witness: Direct witness


Summary of the Abduction

- In order to avoid the watchful eyes of the North Korean Army, he used to come home late at night everyday. On the night of September 13th 1950, after getting information disclosed by Baek Wun-hyeon,
- Chief of the village office, the man named Park Sang-Gil seized the abductee Choi Jun and his eldest son, Choi Kwang-seok. Both of them were taken to the Political Security Bureau in Dongdaemun-gu.
- The abductee was severely tortured only for reasons that he was a Christian church’s elder who had come south over the border. Later Choi Kwang-seok, the abductee’s oldest son was interrogated and released on September 17, upon condition that he would give information on students engaging in anti-communists activities in Daekwang High School.
- Although 60 years have passed, his whereabouts has not been revealed due to the noncooperation of North Korea.
- Choi Jun was mentioned several times in abductee statistics, put together by the South Korean government and the Korea National Red Cross, and in the CIA Information Report, those are listing names of South Koreans captured by North Korea. Based on those documents, Choi Jun was granted legal status of an abductee from the South Korean government.


Detail of the Abduction

Q. Were you captured together with your father on September 13?

Yes, I was then a 5th grader in Daekwang Middle School, which is equivalent to a current 2nd grader of middle school. I had to hide myself at one of our relatives’ house, as I was eligible for the NK ‘Voluntary Soldier’. But I felt uncomfortable living with them, so I returned home which was then located in front of Korea University in Jegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu. As my father was not able to stay home in safety, he would come home late at night. On the same day that he was to be abducted, my father heard the abduction scheme and hurried back home to warn me to run away. At that moment, a man in civilian attire followed my father into home and captured both of us immediately.

I recalled that we were taken to a place behind which the present Christian Broadcasting System building stands. Though I didn’t see a signboard myself, I heard that it read ‘the Political Security Bureau’ in Dongdaemun-gu. We were captured on September 13 and the building was on the hill, where now Korea Church Centennial Memorial is located, and if looking down from there, I can see the roads where back that time we made heavy tread marks under guard. Cosmos flowers were in bloom along the roads. As we were being dragged along, my father said, “As we don’t know what communism is all about, we have nothing to do with this Political Security Bureau. I was only a member of Daedong Youth Corp in Suwon and now I am just a teacher at Daekwang School.” There stood two Western style houses. It seemed that missionary families had previously resided there. We were taken to the outer-wing building.

In a long room there were groups of people, packing out the room. There wasn’t enough space for one man to sit down or to lie down on the floor. There was a man lying on the floor with a leg injury who looked liked an R.O.K Army officer. I don’t know whether people in that room were in their senses. But we all felt as if dead. We all were abductees taken to north. We were in silence and I was sitting leaning against my father. At sunset time, my father was first called out and brought back at dawn next day. He had his cotton clothing worn out and torn after being tortured. He looked very pale and whispered to me, “I’m afraid you won’t be able to make it to come back alive.” And he said, “Don’t say anything about what happened in Suwon.”
I was 17 years old at that time. Park Sang-Gil who captured us had served in Mapo prison. During the period of time when Seoul was occupied by the North after the breakout of the Korean War on June 28th, 1950, bad people who had once served in Seodaemun (West Gate) Prison and Mapo prison killed and beat many people. Park Sang-Gil took me to a small interrogation room full of torture instruments including tools for beating and water buckets. I shook in fear and said, “I was just 13 years when I followed my parents to come southward, knowing nothing about it.” They told me that my father’s offense was that he was a church elder who crossed over to the South and that he allegedly had abused General Kim Il-Sung while doing his missionary works.

My father denied such a charge by saying, “I haven’t done any of such acts. I have only delivered the message written in the Bible. They then asked why he crossed to the South and if he ever saw God. My father replied, “You don't believed in God, but I do”, for which he got more beatings.

As I was called for interrogation, my father told me, “Just say to them, ‘Long live the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-Sung!’ But never assent to their contention that there exists no God.” Now I know that my father told me that to save my life and at the same time, he didn’t want me to deny God till the end. I consider my father as a martyr and respect him most. Fortunately, I didn’t get a single beating in that horrible interrogation room.

I enrolled myself in Daekwang High School in April and when the Korean War broke out in June, I was a newly transferred student in a lower grade. For those reasons, I didn’t join anticommunist student unions. The interrogating officer treated me fairly well and released me on September 17. They told me, “I’ll let you free. We know that students in the anticommunist student union in your school show themselves up in Dongdae-mun market. Go around the market and inform us of their whereabouts. Then we’ll also let your father free.” I didn’t buy their words.

At the news of my release, my father was overjoyed and told me to take a good care of grandmother, mother and my younger siblings back at home. I couldn’t do anything but in tears. Park San-Gil tried to drag me out. The guards of the North Korean soldiers were nearby, but I couldn’t move myself to leave the room. Bidding a final farewell to my father, I wanted to say to him so bad that I’d take revenge for him. I however couldn’t speak out. NK soldiers were standing by me and I cried out loud. My father struggled to stand up on the floor, reaching and holding the window bars, “Why is a man crying? You should go out and take care of family.”

I gave him a military style salute as a final farewell and talked to myself, “Father, you know what I wanted to say this, though I can’t dare to speak out loud, right? I will surely avenge.” After the release, I no longer feared about being drafted into so-called the NK ‘Voluntary Soldier’. Before I was taken by the North Korean soldiers, I had worried about being caught by so-called the NK ‘Voluntary Soldier’. I’d rather begin to think that if I was caught up by them, then I was just performing military duties earlier.

I remember that back that time, there were bicycle shops and that after being released on September 17th, I drank lots of water and then tried not to walk through the alleys. I heard sirens ringing and planes flying. I hurried myself through big roads past Jegi-dong to Anam-dong, which was near home. I was scared at planes passing over me and I wanted to survive and meet my mother so bad. I managed to come back home. My mother first asked me, “What happened to your father?” I uttered, in a low tone reluctantly, “He died.” I think from that date, the North Korean Army kept retreating.

Q. How was he abducted?

Park Sang-gil captured and interrogated us. I couldn’t see any man from the NK Political Security Bureau, but there were few men in the NK Army uniforms. Park Sang-Gil interrogated. One day evening, I saw jeeps with square shaped trailers. The trailers were not that high. I think they loaded people in their lying-down positions so that they would not be seen from outside. After being interrogated, I saw men being crammed into the trailers with their hands tied. I don’t know where they were being taken. I think those people were also abductees.

When Seoul was recovered in September 28, 1950, I and my mother went to the mountains back in Anam-dong and Miari, where dead bodies were scattered all over. The corps and clothes were decaying unrecognizably. With shovels at our hands, we went around the places in search for my father’s body, but to no avail.


Reason behind the Abduction

Q. Why do you think he was abducted?
He was severely tortured and abused for being a church elder defected to the south. While teaching in Suwon, he involved in various anticommunist activities. He is also well known as an outstanding moralist. That must be why he was abducted.


News after the Abduction

Q. Have you ever visited State Political Security Affairs Agency afterward?
Yes, I have. I went there right after the restoration of Seoul. I searched the basement of the building but found no trace of him. I first went into the basement because I last saw my father there. I haven’t found my father’s body yet.

Q. Did you receive any news from your father?
I have no idea where he was taken to. All I know is that he was alive when detained on September 19th in the place where State Political Security Affairs Agency was used to be in Dongdaemun-gu, but now where Korea Church Centennial Memorial and Jeong-shin Girl’s High School stands. After my release, I haven’t heard anything about him.