On Thursday, North Korea said it would arrange for the South Korean abductee Kim Young-nam to meet with his mother. Mr. Kim was kidnapped in 1978 at the age of 16 from a beach in Gunsan, and is believed to have married the Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota and given birth to a daughter. The South Korean and Japanese governments recently analyzed DNA from Ms. Megumi’s daughter and concluded it is highly likely Mr. Kim and Ms. Megumi married in North Korea. The North had remained silent regarding anything about Mr. Kim’s situation until last Thursday.
It is meaningful progress that North Korea has decided to arrange a reunion between Mr. Kim and his mother, because it could lead to the truth about Mr. Kim’s case and an eventual resolution. It could be a landmark in resolving the plight of the kidnapped, since Mr. Kim is a celebrated cause among South Koreans abducted by the North in years past. Japan, in turn, sees Yokota as a symbolic example of North Korea’s kidnapping of Japanese citizens. Depending on how this case is handled, it could have considerable influence on the pace and substance of negotiations between Japan and North Korea on establishing diplomatic relations.
Kidnapped South Koreans have become an unavoidable issue in cooperation-centered inter-Korean relations, much like military issues. Unification minister Lee Jong-seok’s decision during ministerial talks last April to suggest that South Korean POWs and abductees still in North Korea be part of the agenda reflects that. North Korea acted responsibly to restate that it had already been agreed the issue would be resolved within the framework of ordinary family reunions. Separate from this meeting between Mr. Kim and his mother, the plight of Mr. Kim and other abductees has to be approached within the context of dealing with unresolved issues in recent history. We call on North Korea to make the right decision.
South Korea needs to continue to work to make conditions such that the North might profoundly change its attitude. For example, it would be good to avoid an approach that presses the North on the wrongs of its past. The facts should be made clear, but the attitude should be a future-oriented one that supports the formation of a greater Korean community by healing the suffering and the wounds of history. South Korea also needs to demand of Japan that it take a balanced approach, one that takes into consideration its own past and the future of Northeast Asia, as currently it is on a rhetorical offensive against the North, as if the kidnapping issue is everything.
[Editorial] Kim Young-nam and the greater abductee issue |
