What can be done about the abductee issue?
Mar. 4th 1954, 1st page, Dong-a Daily

The so-called “displaced civilian exchanges” that for so long wretched the hearts of so many abductee families finally came to an end on March 2. However, not one of the abductees were repatriated. In a strange turn of events, the North sent 11 Turks along with 8 people of unclear nationality to the South. This has caused both the disappointment of the abductee families and anger among the South Korean public.

When the civilian exchange issue was first discussed during the Armistice Agreement negotiations, we pointed out that using that the term “displaced civilian exchanges” was unjustified. It was a mistake that our side did not used the term “abductee repatriations” but went along with the enemy’s argument and used the totally inappropriate term of “displaced civilian exchanges.” The repatriation of abductees is the unilateral duty of the enemy, and the use of the more bilateral and compromising term of “displaced civilian exchanges” has allowed the UN to fall into a trap it set itself. It is only natural that we have ended up with such insipid “exchanges” as a result.
We clearly knew that the enemy would do this. There is no reason that there are no South Korean “displaced civilians” who went over to North Korea, and there is little chance that there is not one person who would try to return home to South Korea. The enemy has used some deception in terminology to exploit this part of the Armistice Agreement. How does the UN military evaluate the enemy after today’s exchange negotiations?

Going one step further, we cannot help but doubt the signing of the Armistice Agreement between the cunningly intelligent communist enemies and the unintelligent and foolish UN military. This is because it has now become a worthless document interpreted cunningly every which way by the enemy. As a result, the reason why we think that the UN side’s peaceful Armistice Agreement is hopeless even today is because the enemy could at any time make up an excuse to rip it to pieces and craftily move to invade South Korea again.

Now let’s return to the results of the so-called “displaced civilian exchanges.” They ended without even one of our many abducted countrymen returning home, so does that mean they were all massacred by the evil red hands of the enemy? Or does it mean they were brainwashed into becoming communists and have forever abandoned Free South Korea and their parents and relatives who love them? That being said, the communists are human, too, so they probably did not massacre all of them. The abductees are also patriots, and as long as they are alive they probably have not forgotten completely the superiority of South Korea. Is it even possible for them to volunteer desperately to return home when they have lost their freedom to speak and, if they did speak out, given that they would surely be labelled “anti-socialist elements” or “traitors”?
We do not doubt that the UN military armistice representatives have committed an act of stupidity saying they will bring back the abductees under the empty slogan of “displaced civilians.” This while they focus all their efforts on repatriating their own miniscule number of foreign civilians and have no great interest or sincerity toward helping abducted Korean countrymen. The UN side has presented the communist side with a list of the names of our abducted persons with a demand to reinvestigate, but such a tepid demand will not bend nor change the original intention of the enemy to prevent the abductees from returning home.

At this point in time, will we have to leave our many innocent patriots, who have suffered physically and mentally over the last three years under the red iron tent, to suffer forever under the brutal enemy? While the UN armistice committee or the US may view the abductee issue as insignificant from a military standpoint, from a humanitarian standpoint, it is a grave issue. We call on them to put forth much more enthusiasm and effort to fight for the abductees than they did during the question of whether to repatriate anti-communist POWs. This is our justified demand and the natural duty of the US and the UN.

They may call the abductee issue a tired argument and even have no intention to discuss it again. Our opinion, however, is that even though the upcoming Geneva Conference may be aimed simply at resolving political issues, the abductee issue is similar to the POW issue during wartime. This makes it a grave enough issue to be discussed during the conference.