Interest Toward Abducted Countrymen
Jan. 10th 1953, 1st page, Dong-a Daily

It is a well known fact that the communist party has habitually abducted free people at anytime and anywhere, whether it be on the battlefield or during guerrilla warfare. They then force abducted persons to take part in their own deceptive propaganda and psychological warfare. This article will provide a comparative analysis of wartime abduction cases abroad.

In the UN general assembly held in New York, a resolution calling for action to limit wartime abductions was passed by an absolute majority. During the Greek Civil War, communists abducted 18,000 Greek children to the Soviet Union and the satellite states thereof and never returned them to their family until now.
However, the South Korean government has not only failed to make an appeal to the world to reprimand North Korea’s communist regime for doing the same exact evil deeds, but has instead considered the National Assemblymen abducted by North Korea nonexistent and moved to call for elections to replace them as soon as possible.

Let me give another example of recent news about an American missionary Dr. Henry Gerhard Appenzeller who has long been in Korea, well aware of and fond of Korea. He worked out an excellent suggestion for the issue of providing the practical means of living for financial independence of about 70 remaining wives of Christian pastors who were abducted to the north. The suggestion was submitted to the Office of Patriots and Veterans Affairs in the Combined Economic Board and finally approved. Thanks to the support of Headquarters of UN Civil Supporting Patriots and Veterans and ROK’s Department of Health and Department of Social Affairs, the suggestion has been realized and...

The wives of abducted pastors were the first to establish a Missionary Meeting and are now working as nurses using supplies of cotton cloth and yarn from the UN Civil Assistance Command. This work is killing two birds with one stone by providing the wives with a way to earn their living while also contributing to the end of the war. The abduction of thousands of public figures - the backbones of our nation - has been followed by almost 20 years of no information about whether they are even still alive and no major changes in world sentiment toward the issue. For the remaining family who are suffering from poverty, what have Koreans done while the mere foreigner Dr. Appenzeller has been enthusiastically helping them? I can’t help feeling strong sense of shame.

What causes us to lament even further is the fact that while racketeers waste money obtaining goods from the UN Civilian Assistance Command, the government has failed to think up a plan to properly provide material support to the families of abductees. It is still not too late. The fate of 18,000 Greek children has grabbed the world’s attention, but the tragedy of thousands of South Korean abductees and their families should garner several times such interest. In order to disclose and punish the crimes of red communists by justice, we should publicize this issue internationally.
The main goal of the decision on the Greek children is to condemn the acts of the communist party in front of the conscience of humanity, rather than consider any real possibility for their rescue. Simultaneously, we should take a step further than mere giving of helping hands to the remaining families of disabled veterans, fallen soldiers, and civilian war suffers. Earnest effort of private and public sectors should be made in order to realize providing the practical means of living to the remaining families. Such willingness is required at the rear of the war front and is important for such a war as this that is fought with ideology and politics