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Korea Herald
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Former NK soldier, jailed here for 42 years, may return home
South Korean government mulling repatriation of Ahn Hak-sop to North Korea South Korea's Ministry of Unification is reportedly reviewing the possible repatriation of Ahn Hak-sop, a former North Korean soldier captured during the 1950-53 Korean War whose refusal to renounce the North's communist system led him to be imprisoned for over four decades. According to Yonhap News Agency on Monday, the 95-year-old Ahn submitted a request to the government in July asking to be returned to the North. Ministry officials visited him at his hospital on July 23 to check on his physical condition, verify his specific demands, and find out why he was asking to be sent back now. Ahn had a chance to be repatriated to the North under the Kim Dae-jung administration in 2000, when 63 long-term prisoners who refused to convert had been sent to North Korea. But at the time, he decided to stay, saying he would "fight until the US military leaves (South Korea)." The North Korean government considers the US its greatest enemy, and demands that the country pull out its forces from the Korean Peninsula, at least publicly. Ahn, a sympathizer of the communist North, has said that he should have been repatriated long ago as a prisoner of war since he had served in the North Korean military. But he said at a protest on Saturday that he now wishes to be buried with his comrades in the North, with whom he served time at the South Korean prison. He has recently been suffering from age-related health issues. Ministry officials made it clear that a working-level review of Ahn's request is underway, and it has not even been reported to the minister yet. Inter-Korean relations have been icy in recent years, and the dictatorial Kim Jong-un regime has not responded to recent requests from the South Korean government to repatriate the North Koreans rescued at sea in March and May this year. The six North Koreans were sent back on July 9 and were picked up at sea by navy vessels from the communist state. Behind bars for 42 years Ahn was captured in April 1953, just three months before the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27 of that year. He was tried by a South Korean court under the now-defunct National Guard Act, and was convicted of aiding and abetting the enemy, meaning North Korea. Most captured North Korean troops were repatriated under the so-called Operation Big Switch, a mutual exchange of all remaining prisoners of the Korean War. But some soldiers were not sent back for various reasons: tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers were not returned by North Korea as they had "converted to communism," according to Pyongyang. A handful of North Korean soldiers were held here and were told to renounce the North Korean system, with Ahn and several others being subjected to torture. The state-affiliated Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009 acknowledged that severe human rights violations had occurred during this process, urging the South Korean government to make an official apology. The commission's report also found that state officials repeatedly tried to convert Ahn between 1973 and 1995, attempting to use his family to persuade him. The report showed that prison officials recorded sounds from Ahn's family home to play for him and subjected him to various forms of torture.
![[Lee Kyong-hee] Recalibrate moves for peace in Korea](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F29%2Fnews-p.v1.20250629.b23a11e5daa145f98133cc4ea70968d5_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
[Lee Kyong-hee] Recalibrate moves for peace in Korea
One day in late 2017, after work at the Pentagon, then-US Secretary of Defense James Mattis quietly slipped into the National Cathedral in Washington. Mattis directed his security detail to allow him to enter alone so he could pray and reflect. 'What do you do if you've got to do it?' Mattis asked himself. 'You're going to incinerate a couple million people.' He had been in enough wars to know what one on the Korean Peninsula would entail. Now the question for him was how to fulfill his duty knowing his decisions might have epic consequences. President Donald Trump's maximum pressure on North Korea included not only draconian economic sanctions but verbal assaults against Kim Jong-un, including 'fire and fury' and 'nuclear obliteration.' Only the president could authorize the use of nuclear weapons, but Mattis believed the decision would rest on his recommendation. By then, the North Korean leader possessed, for the first time, both nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead to the US homeland. Kim had been launching missiles at an alarming rate during the first year of Trump's presidency, including an unprecedented ICBM on July 4. The North conducted its sixth nuclear test -- its most recent one to date -- two months later. In his 2020 book, 'Rage,' Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward describes Mattis returning to the cathedral several more times that year 'to find peace before the moment came.' Woodward writes that, when he walked out of his last visit, Mattis had cleared the decks: 'I'm ready to go to work. I'm not going to think any more about the human tragedy.' Fortunately, things soon transpired in an entirely unexpected way. Kim offered to participate in the Winter Olympics to be hosted by South Korea in February 2018, setting off a whirlwind of cross-border exchanges, which would culminate in the first-ever summit talks between the United States and North Korea. In the past six years — from the 'no deal' in Hanoi in February 2019 to Trump's return to the White House for his second term earlier this year — the geopolitical matrix surrounding this peninsula has become tremendously more complicated. Inter-Korean relations as well as ties between Washington and Pyongyang have hit rock bottom. North Korea has noticeably strengthened its position with its renewed partnership with Russia, while the intensifying rivalry between the US and China is fundamentally rocking the global order. Against this volatile backdrop of international politics, it is with much interest — no doubt with caution as well — that one observes the North's unusual response to recent events that carry far-reaching significance. Amid the chaotic government turnover in the South and the US airstrikes on Iran's three key nuclear facilities, Pyongyang has responded with rarely seen restraint and composure. In the unstable wake of the US strikes in Iran, the North Korean Foreign Ministry expressed its serious concern and denounced the US government for violating Iran's territorial integrity and the United Nations Charter, but did not mention support for Tehran. The response is unexpected given Pyongyang's decadeslong friendly relationship with Tehran. The two countries are widely suspected of sharing weapons technology and underground construction know-how. It can be assumed that Kim Jong-un fears the US capability to carry out precision strikes using bunker-buster bombs. It can also be conjectured that Trump's unilateral action has only hardened Kim's determination to further accelerate his nuclear program and deepened his mistrust of Trump's North Korea policy. But it is too early to discern Kim's total calculus of the Middle East while developments in the region remain fluid. No less important, the North has shown reasonable prudence in responding to events in the South. Even when former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his defense chief were accused of trying to provoke the North into a military response to justify martial law, the North remained silent. In the past, such an allegation would have likely triggered bombastic rhetoric and threats. President Lee Jae-myung has quickly changed the political climate just weeks into his tenure. His picks for key Cabinet posts handling inter-Korean affairs send an explicit message. Chung Dong-young, the unification minister nominee, and Lee Jong-seok, now head of the National Intelligence Service, are known for their pro-detente activities under previous liberal administrations and have expressed commitments to inducing a thaw. Experience tells us that a breakthrough with the North should be cloaked in cautious optimism. We can expect Lee's pursuit of peace will continue. Ideally, Kim should respond and take the path to economic development to save the North Korean population from dire poverty — and keep a nuclear nightmare on the Korean Peninsula at bay. The X factor may be the US. Trump makes no secret of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize. After taking an outsized role in the Middle East, perhaps he will reengage on the Korean Peninsula, where he often claims he prevented a major war. That could mean an unreliable partner for the Lee administration. Trump likes the spotlight on him alone and insists on setting terms. Trump's overture to Kim signifies a rare window of opportunity, but with risks of uncertainty. That burden will fall on Lee, who will have to take cautious steps — one at a time — resolutely and steadfastly toward peace.
Euronews
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Six Americans detained for trying to send Bibles to North Korea
Six American nationals were taken into custody in South Korea on Friday for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollar bills and Bibles to North Korea by sea, local police have reported. The group attempted to cast the bottles into the sea from the front-line Gwanghwa Island, hoping they drift toward the North Korean coast with the tide, according to a police office speaking on the condition of anonymity. The six are under investigation for potentially breaching the law on the management of safety and disasters. A second officer confirmed the detentions but did not provide further information. It is not clear whether any of the detainees have taken similar actions before. The use of floating bottles or balloons to send anti-North Korea materials — ranging from propaganda leaflets to religious texts — has long been a source of friction on the Korean Peninsula. Retaliating to material sent from its neighbour's territory, North Korea launched its own balloons containing waste into South Korea last year, with at least two reaching the presidential compound in Seoul. In 2023, South Korea's Constitutional Court annulled a 2020 law that banned the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, deeming it an excessive restriction on free speech. However, the newly inaugurated liberal administration of President Lee Jae-myung hopes to curb such actions by using alternative public safety legislation, citing the need to de-escalate tensions with the North and safeguard residents living near the border. On 14 June, an activist was arrested for allegedly launching balloons from Gwanghwa Island. President Lee, who assumed office in June, has pledged to resume peace talks with North Korea and foster reconciliation. His administration also suspended his country's use of anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts to ease tensions with its neighbour. No reciprocal broadcasts have been detected from the North since the measure was introduced. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether Pyongyang will engage with Lee's overtures. North Korea declared last year it would cut ties with Seoul and abandon the goal of peaceful reunification. Inter-Korean dialogue has remained frozen since 2019, when broader denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington collapsed.
Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Foreign minister nominee puts peace through dialogue at top of agenda
Foreign Minister nominee Cho Hyun said Tuesday that establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue will be a key priority of the Lee Jae Myung administration's foreign policy. "Inter-Korean issues are not something that can be addressed by a single ministry or resolved by one government alone," Cho told reporters during a doorstep interview following his nomination the previous day. Cho underscored that 'establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula — through the facilitation of US–North Korea dialogue — is one of the top priorities of the Lee Jae Myung administration's foreign and unification policy.' 'The Foreign Ministry will work closely with the United States and other allies to ensure that there are no obstacles in advancing such efforts,' he said, responding to a question about the ministry's role in supporting summit-level talks between Washington and Pyongyang. "Diplomacy is about pursuing peace and prosperity," he said. When asked whether he would visit the US as his first overseas destination after taking office, Cho said, 'We need to break free from the conventional thinking that the first overseas visit must be to the US.' 'Still, I think it will naturally turn out that way. As for top priorities, there are many, and they are all interconnected,' Cho added, responding to a question about which agenda should be prioritized if he visits the US. With regard to Lee's decision to skip the NATO summit, Cho responded, "It was the best possible decision given the high level of uncertainty on multiple fronts.' Cho, however, did not provide a definitive answer when asked how he would redefine ties with China and Russia amid growing challenges, including intensifying US–China competition and deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, instead taking a cautious stance. 'This is a highly sensitive issue, and it should be considered alongside other major diplomatic matters," Cho said. "Of course, that's not to say that our relationship with China is unimportant — but rather that it must be examined and pursued within a broader context." On South Korea–Japan ties, Cho espoused a two-track approach: advancing overall relations while addressing contentious issues — mainly historical disputes stemming from Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945 — through diplomacy. 'While we seek to advance Korea–Japan relations beyond conventional frameworks, we should quietly address sensitive issues through discreet diplomacy.' On the topic of urgent diplomatic tasks, Cho underscored, 'It's like the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' — it's difficult to assign clear priorities at the moment.' "I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility as I take on the role of foreign minister at a time when the international landscape is extremely unstable," Cho said, reflecting on his nomination.
Korea Herald
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Vice unification minister stresses need to 'disentangle' fractured inter-Korean ties
New Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung said Monday the government needs to start with small steps, including reopening now-suspended inter-Korean communication lines, to "disentangle" fractured relations and build trust with North Korea. Kim made the remarks in his inauguration speech, as he took office as the first vice unification minister under President Lee Jae Myung, who has pledged to ease military tensions and pursue dialogue with North Korea to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. "Starting from small things, like opening communication lines between the South and the North, the raveled inter-Korean relations should be disentangled," Kim noted. "Inter-Korean trust should be build piece by piece, without haste even though there is a long way to go." As inter-Korean ties drastically soured under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, North Korea has shut down communication with South Korea since April 2023. South Korea continues to place daily calls to the North through an inter-Korean liaison communication line and a military hotline, but the calls have gone unanswered ever since. "Peace on the Korean Peninsula has reached a dead end worse than we have ever imagined," Kim said, referring to the prolonged lack of inter-Korean communication and Pyongyang's ongoing efforts to distance itself from Seoul. The vice minister emphasized Lee's remarks that "peace is better than war, however expensive it is," reiterating the president's pledge to build peace on the peninsula through dialogue and cooperation with North Korea. (Yonhap)
