01-Jun-04
Most of
us know about the many reports of American servicemen having been held back
after the Korean War by our Communist enemies.
The sightings are varied. Some
have men being sent to the Soviet Union and China. Others describe men seen in North Korea off and on for
years…decades…after the war. These are
the stuff that families' nightmares are made of. The tormenting thoughts of someone we love having been ripped
from family, friends and country and held captive by tyrants who cared nothing
for their well-being. The worst
possible news, and yet we press for the information. It's that inexplicable Need to Know.
All these
years later, the Soviet Union has become a federation of democratic states
within which our investigators and researchers are working. China is coming along more slowly, but at
least we have a developing diplomatic dialogue with the Chinese government, not
to mention billions of dollars in trade each year that should compel some
measure of cooperation.
North
Korea has remained an enigma: closed to the world and not much more transparent
than it was 50 years ago, when our men were lost behind its curtain of dark
mystery. We hunger for glimpses we
might gain into the murky abyss. Such
opportunities have really only come in the form of reports from those who have
escaped from inside.
There
have been many. By all accounts,
thousands of North Koreans have made their way out over the years. Most have been ordinary citizens, but some
have been military personnel and other government officials. Most intriguing have been the dozens of
South Korean POWs who were captured during the war and held back. Or the Japanese woman who was kidnapped by
the North Koreans as a teenager, then later married an American 'defector' with
whom she lived in North Korea until her recent return to Japan. What might any of
these individuals know about Americans having been kept after the war? Maybe nothing. Maybe something.
We are
told that these escapees are all interviewed…debriefed…upon their arrival in
the free world. We are told that
American Defense Intelligence officials question them about American POWs, and
that none of them has had any credible information. For better or worse, it's hard to have blind faith. Too many times in the past we have learned
of half truths, outright misinformation, or facts withheld. I'm reminded of Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets, a
discussion of events that led to the infamous Pentagon Papers, in which he
talks about the mosaic of lies concerning the Vietnam War that were regularly
fed by the Executive Branch to Congress, the media and the American People.
The
Coalition has repeatedly requested access to the debriefings of people who make
their way out of North Korea. We are
told that South Korea refuses to permit dissemination of the information, and
that our own government is obliged to honor that position. If the questions are asked and the answers
are innocuous, why can't we see the reports?
If the answers contain information about Americans, we should most
certainly be kept informed. Either
way, the blanket refusal, and the persistent claim that no credible information
has been learned, doesn't set well.
Many families harbor a suspicion that someone is hiding something.
There are
valid reasons for this. For example,
this past October, ABC NEWSONLINE, an Australian media outlet, published the
story of a former high level North Korean Army officer, Kim Yong, who
defected. Mr. Kim reportedly claims to
have seen seven American or British POWs from the Korean War in a North Korean
prison camp in 1996. The information
might or might not have been 'credible', but families of missing American
servicemen should have been told about the sighting. We should have been given a copy of relevant portions of Mr.
Kim's debriefing report, so we could see the questions asked and the answers given. We are entitled to scrutinize the process by
which our government is accounting for its missing servicemen. The Coalition is now attempting to reach Mr.
Kim directly in Los Angeles, where he reportedly lives.
In
December, Jun Yong-il became the latest of more than 30 South Korean POWs to
escape from North Korea, whose government has denied for more than 50 years
that it held any prisoners back. Mr.
Jun and the others are living proof that this is not true. Even if Mr. Jun does not have direct information
about Americans, there are countless tid bits of information that could be
informative.
In the
1970s and 80s (and no-doubt since) U.S. intelligence cables discussed live
sightings of American POWs in North Korea.
The sources were debriefed and reports were made. A handful of these have surfaced now and
again. I've seen some of them. All sorts of questions come to mind when I read
them. We families should be provided
such reports to compare with other information we have; to follow-up with inquiries
and requested action. News of
debriefings that did contain information about Americans…credible or not…have
made their way to the foreign media throughout the years. A North Korean police officer claimed he had
personal contact with Americans in a prison compound during the 1990s. A former North Korean government insider,
who was later arrested and sent to a labor camp, reported knowledge of American
POWs there in the early 1990s.
Questions
raised by older intelligence reports linger.
Who was the blue-eyed Caucasian working a collective farm in North Korea
in the late 1970s, reported to be an American POW? Who are the eleven Americans reported by several sources to have
been teaching English to North Korean officials in Pyongyang for years? And who are the eleven American 'survivors'
of the Korean War that government asset Bobby Eagan said were offered-up by the
North Koreans in the midst of the North Korean spy submarine incident several
years ago?
For years
the North Korean government has refused to even designate a point of contact on
the issue of live Americans held back.
Their pat answer has been that all POWs were repatriated after the
war. Interestingly, they seem to have
now softened their stance on this.
During recent meetings with American negotiators, the North Koreans
reportedly agreed to 'present to their leaders a proposal to establish a single
point of contact to resolve reports of Americans living in North Korea'. This is a far cry from straightforward
answers about what happened to so many missing men, but it could be the signal
of a new era of compromise by the North Koreans, who desperately need to find
their way into the rest of the world community. Should diplomatic channels indeed begin to open up, we would like
to be armed with more complete information upon which to build our accounting
agenda.
U.S.
wartime intelligence documents recently uncovered in the NARA archives by
Coalition researchers reference American Korean War POWs doomed to be sent to
Moscow and China. Many other such
documents have been around for years.
It is not far-fetched that men would have been held back in North Korea.
It is
time to gather and present the body of evidence that has amassed over the years
that suggests the continued presence in North Korea of American POWs. This might be a delicate diplomatic and
political challenge, but that is no excuse for avoiding the issue. The family and veteran communities have
served as resources and as watchdogs on the accounting issue from the
beginning. It is our losses that
motivate the search for answers. We are
entitled to receive relevant information about the possible existence of our
missing servicemen in North Korea, or elsewhere. We want to be the judge of what is credible and what is not. Let us see the reports and press for more
information or action, if we think either is needed.
We reject
the ill-defined excuse that South Korea refuses to allow dissemination of the
debriefing reports coming from those who make it out of North Korea. Considering the sacrifices made by our men
in defense of South Korea's freedom, there should be total cooperation in
helping us get answers.
The
Coalition has renewed our request to DPMO for help in resolving this
issue. We invite other family members
and veterans to support the effort to obtain debriefing reports from
individuals who escape or defect from North Korea. From there we can mount appropriate oversight of what is being
done to account for missing American servicemen who might have been held
captive in North Korea…or elsewhere…for years.
Most of
us know about the many reports of American servicemen having been held back
after the Korean War by our Communist enemies.
The sightings are varied. Some
have men being sent to the Soviet Union and China. Others describe men seen in North Korea off and on for
years…decades…after the war. These are
the stuff that families' nightmares are made of. The tormenting thoughts of someone we love having been ripped
from family, friends and country and held captive by tyrants who cared nothing
for their well-being. The worst
possible news, and yet we press for the information. It's that inexplicable Need to Know.
All these
years later, the Soviet Union has become a federation of democratic states
within which our investigators and researchers are working. China is coming along more slowly, but at
least we have a developing diplomatic dialogue with the Chinese government, not
to mention billions of dollars in trade each year that should compel some
measure of cooperation.
North
Korea has remained an enigma: closed to the world and not much more transparent
than it was 50 years ago, when our men were lost behind its curtain of dark
mystery. We hunger for glimpses we
might gain into the murky abyss. Such
opportunities have really only come in the form of reports from those who have
escaped from inside.
There
have been many. By all accounts,
thousands of North Koreans have made their way out over the years. Most have been ordinary citizens, but some
have been military personnel and other government officials. Most intriguing have been the dozens of
South Korean POWs who were captured during the war and held back. Or the Japanese woman who was kidnapped by
the North Koreans as a teenager, then later married an American 'defector' with
whom she lived in North Korea until her recent return to Japan. What might any
of these individuals know about Americans having been kept after the war? Maybe nothing. Maybe something.
We are
told that these escapees are all interviewed…debriefed…upon their arrival in
the free world. We are told that
American Defense Intelligence officials question them about American POWs, and
that none of them has had any credible information. For better or worse, it's hard to have blind faith. Too many times in the past we have learned
of half truths, outright misinformation, or facts withheld. I'm reminded of Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets, a
discussion of events that led to the infamous Pentagon Papers, in which he
talks about the mosaic of lies concerning the Vietnam War that were regularly
fed by the Executive Branch to Congress, the media and the American People.
The
Coalition has repeatedly requested access to the debriefings of people who make
their way out of North Korea. We are
told that South Korea refuses to permit dissemination of the information, and
that our own government is obliged to honor that position. If the questions are asked and the answers
are innocuous, why can't we see the reports?
If the answers contain information about Americans, we should most
certainly be kept informed. Either
way, the blanket refusal, and the persistent claim that no credible information
has been learned, doesn't set well. Many
families harbor a suspicion that someone is hiding something.
There are
valid reasons for this. For example,
this past October, ABC NEWSONLINE, an Australian media outlet, published the
story of a former high level North Korean Army officer, Kim Yong, who
defected. Mr. Kim reportedly claims to
have seen seven American or British POWs from the Korean War in a North Korean
prison camp in 1996. The information
might or might not have been 'credible', but families of missing American
servicemen should have been told about the sighting. We should have been given a copy of relevant portions of Mr.
Kim's debriefing report, so we could see the questions asked and the answers
given. We are entitled to scrutinize
the process by which our government is accounting for its missing
servicemen. The Coalition is now
attempting to reach Mr. Kim directly in Los Angeles, where he reportedly lives.
In
December, Jun Yong-il became the latest of more than 30 South Korean POWs to
escape from North Korea, whose government has denied for more than 50 years
that it held any prisoners back. Mr.
Jun and the others are living proof that this is not true. Even if Mr. Jun does not have direct information
about Americans, there are countless tid bits of information that could be
informative.
In the
1970s and 80s (and no-doubt since) U.S. intelligence cables discussed live
sightings of American POWs in North Korea.
The sources were debriefed and reports were made. A handful of these have surfaced now and
again. I've seen some of them. All sorts of questions come to mind when I
read them. We families should be
provided such reports to compare with other information we have; to follow-up
with inquiries and requested action.
News of
debriefings that did contain information about Americans…credible or not…have
made their way to the foreign media throughout the years. A North Korean police officer claimed he had
personal contact with Americans in a prison compound during the 1990s. A former North Korean government insider,
who was later arrested and sent to a labor camp, reported knowledge of American
POWs there in the early 1990s.
Questions
raised by older intelligence reports linger.
Who was the blue-eyed Caucasian working a collective farm in North Korea
in the late 1970s, reported to be an American POW? Who are the eleven Americans reported by several sources to have
been teaching English to North Korean officials in Pyongyang for years? And who are the eleven American 'survivors'
of the Korean War that government asset Bobby Eagan said were offered-up by the
North Koreans in the midst of the North Korean spy submarine incident several
years ago?
For years
the North Korean government has refused to even designate a point of contact on
the issue of live Americans held back.
Their pat answer has been that all POWs were repatriated after the
war. Interestingly, they seem to have
now softened their stance on this.
During recent meetings with American negotiators, the North Koreans
reportedly agreed to 'present to their leaders a proposal to establish a single
point of contact to resolve reports of Americans living in North Korea'. This is a far cry from straightforward
answers about what happened to so many missing men, but it could be the signal
of a new era of compromise by the North Koreans, who desperately need to find
their way into the rest of the world community. Should diplomatic channels indeed begin to open up, we would like
to be armed with more complete information upon which to build our accounting
agenda.
U.S.
wartime intelligence documents recently uncovered in the NARA archives by
Coalition researchers reference American Korean War POWs doomed to be sent to
Moscow and China. Many other such
documents have been around for years.
It is not far-fetched that men would have been held back in North Korea.
It is
time to gather and present the body of evidence that has amassed over the years
that suggests the continued presence in North Korea of American POWs. This might be a delicate diplomatic and
political challenge, but that is no excuse for avoiding the issue. The family and veteran communities have
served as resources and as watchdogs on the accounting issue from the
beginning. It is our losses that
motivate the search for answers. We are
entitled to receive relevant information about the possible existence of our
missing servicemen in North Korea, or elsewhere. We want to be the judge of what is credible and what is not. Let us see the reports and press for more
information or action, if we think either is needed.
We reject
the ill-defined excuse that South Korea refuses to allow dissemination of the
debriefing reports coming from those who make it out of North Korea. Considering the sacrifices made by our men
in defense of South Korea's freedom, there should be total cooperation in
helping us get answers.
The
Coalition has renewed our request to DPMO for help in resolving this
issue. We invite other family members
and veterans to support the effort to obtain debriefing reports from
individuals who escape or defect from North Korea. From there we can mount appropriate oversight of what is being
done to account for missing American servicemen who might have been held
captive in North Korea…or elsewhere…for years.
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