Abductee: Kim Chom-sok
Recorded Date: May 3rd, 2005


Profile of Abductee

Name: Kim Chom-sok
Date of Birth: January 13, 1913
Place of Birth: Jeollanam-do
Last Address: 43 Namyeong-dong Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Date of Abduction: July 8, 1950
Place of Abduction: Home
Occupation: Lawyer
Education/ Career: Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan/ Chief public prosecutor
Dependents: Wife, 3 daughters
Appearance/ Personality: Short in height


Profile of Testifier

Name: 1. Park Ok-ryeon (born in 1921) 2. Kim Ji-hye (born in 1942)
Relation: 1. Wife 2. Oldest daughter
Type of Witness: 1. Direct witness 2. Indirect witness


Summary of Abduction

- The abductee was taken from his home in Namyeong-dong, Yongsan-gu, at around 2 p.m. of July 8th 1950 to the Security Bureau in Yongsan for an investigation.
- The abductee was witnessed in Manpo-jin, Pyeonganbuk-do, just before the Jan. 4th Retreat.
- Right after the Korean War broke out, he thought about escaping, but could not leave his sick wife and children behind. When the abductee was staying at home with his family, an acquaintance who was a student of the Law Department of Dankook University came to visit. They talked about ways to escape, but then officers of the Security Bureau came and took the abductee away.
- The abductee was a chief public prosecutor who was rich. He probably became a target of North Korea because of his high social position and wealth. The abductee’s brother was murdered because of his position as a head of town.
- The abductee protested that he was a patriot when he was being investigated in the Security Bureau. Later, a jacket that the abductee was wearing when he was taken from home was found in the Seodaemun Prison. A friend of the abductee said a fish seller who went to North Korea saw the abductee having a meal with a group of people in a restaurant in Manpo, Jagang-do. No news since then.


Detail of the Abduction

Q. Would you describe how he was abducted?

(Wife) On the day when the Korean War broke out, my husband and I were at a movie theater in Myeong-dong. Suddenly, the movie stopped running and there was an announcement asking people to leave the theater. We came home and heard that the North Korean Army was on its way to south. Everyone got scared and started to pack their belongings. Then-president Syng-man Rhee, however, made an announcement that everything was under control and the government was ready to defense.
We believed what he said and decided to stay in Seoul. My husband went to work next day and met his colleagues, Lee Ho, Justice Minister and Jang Jae-gap, District Prosecutor General. They were on their way to escape in a jeep. My husband joined them, but stopped by home in Yongsan to check on his family. At that time, I was ill in bed with a gastric ulcer and there was no one else to do house chores or take care of children, because the housekeeper quit the job. My husband just couldn’t leave us behind. Because we couldn’t go far away, we went to Noryang-jin to hide. However, there was nothing to eat. We had to come back to our house in Yongsan. By then, the Han River Bridge had already been destroyed, and we had to take a raft to cross the river.
The following day, the son of my aunt who was a Communism activist came. He told my husband that he knew the best place to hide. My husband went with him, but couldn’t stay long because the house was full of Communism activists. He came back home and packed his belongings to go to another hideout. My husband, however, did not notice that Communism activists were having their eyes on him, whether he was coming home or not.
Then, one of our neighbors came. He was the son of an inn owner and a student of Dankook University. He used to borrow many legal books from my husband. He was wearing a red armband and said, “Sir, you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll help you.” But right then, officers came and took my husband away, saying “Sir, you just need to answer few questions.” They took him to the Yongsan police station. One of our relatives followed my husband to the station, but was told to go home because my husband would be released in few days after an investigation. We went to visit him next day, but couldn’t meet him because he had to stay two or three more days. We went again next day, but found out he had already been transferred to the Political Security Bureau, which was located where the National Library was. We went to the Bureau several times, but again couldn’t meet him.
Q. Who came to abduct him?

(Wife) They were all wearing a red armband. They said, “We are from the Yongsan police station. We need to ask you few questions and it wouldn’t take that long.” They were very polite. They didn’t even tie him up.


Reason behind the Abduction

Q. Why do you think he was abducted?
(Daughter) He became a target because of his high social position as a prosecutor, his wealth, and his political career of running for the National Assembly. Not only my father was taken, but my uncle was murdered during the Korean War. He was a head of town called Jaeun-do. At that time, people with the last names of Kim and Seong in Jaeun-do were wealthy.
When the North Korean Army came, they ordered servants to tie a stone on the rich people and push them into water. That was how all rich people got killed including my uncle. My cousin luckily escaped and told us the story. Jaeundo was not the only place where a massacre took place. In some places, people were buried in the ground alive. A great number of wealthy people were killed nationwide, especially in Jeolla-do.

News after the Abduction

Q. Any news after the abduction?
A (Wife) After the Korea War ended, a lawyer Jang Hu-yeong contacted us. He said that he had been in the same cell with my husband. He was released because he was just a lawyer. But, my husband argued with officers saying, “What did I do wrong? I’m a patriot.” That was probably the reason why he was not released. The officers said that my husband needed to be interrogated more.

Q. Any news about how he was taken to the North?
(Wife) We don’t exactly know how he was taken from the Political Security Bureau to the North. But we know that he was in the Seodaemun Prison because a prison officer found a jacket that had my husband’s name on.
He was wearing that jacket when he was taken from home. We heard this story from his lawyer friend, Yun Mu-seon.

Q. No more news after that?
(Wife) We met Mr. Yun. He told us that his friend went to North to sell fish just before the January 4th Retreat. I’m not sure whether this is true or not, but back then, people were allowed to go back and forth between South and North Korea. Anyway, Mr. Yun’s friend ran into my husband at a restaurant in Manpo, Jagangdo.
My husband was with a group of people, having a meal. Recognizing my husband’s face, Mr. Yun’s friend asked him why he was there. Surprised, my husband said, “Don’t say anything. It’s too dangerous to talk.” Mr. Yun’s friend left without saying anything more. That was the last news that we heard about him.