Family members of hijacked plane passenger seek permission to visit N. Korea

Posted on : 2014-02-15 13:20 KST Modified on : 2014-02-15 13:20 KST
It isn’t known if passengers on plane hijacked in 1969 are still alive; family members want to find out for themselves

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

Family members of passengers and crew on Korean Air Lines flight KAL YS-11, which was hijacked and taken to North Korea in 1969, asked the Unification Ministry on Feb. 14 for permission to visit North Korea to find out for themselves whether the kidnapped passengers are dead or alive.

“February 14th was the day when some of the passengers on the hijacked plane came back, but 11 people - including my father Hwang Won - have still not returned even after 40 years,” said Hwang In-cheol, chairperson of the KAL YS-11 Families Committee. “Aside from one flight attendant who attended the divided family reunions in 2001, we do not know whether the other ten people are still alive.”

The incident occurred on Dec. 11, 1969, when a passenger flight from Gangneung, Gangwon Province to Gimpo Airport in Seoul was hijacked and flown to the North. On Feb. 14, 1970, the following year, 39 of the 50 passengers and crew were returned to South Korea. The remaining 11 people - including Hwang’s father - were not allowed to return.

Hwang held a press conference at the rear entrance to the government complex in central Seoul on Friday and lodged an online petition with the Unification Ministry for permission to visit North Korea.

“No matter how many requests the family members of the kidnapped people make, the South Korean government is not asking North Korea to confirm the status of the kidnapped people or to send them home,” Hwang said at the press conference. “Since the government isn’t doing it, the surviving family members are taking matters into their own hands.”

“Hwang’s request to visit North Korea was received by the divided families division,” said an official at the Unification Ministry on condition of anonymity. “Since Hwang made his request without an invitation from North Korea, it is unlikely that permission will be granted.”

In June 2010, Hwang requested the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to have North Korea confirm whether his father is alive or dead. In May 2012, North Korea responded that the kidnapped passengers on the KAL flight did not fall under the rubric of enforced disappearances and dismissed the request for confirmation of the passengers’ status as a political scheme by hostile forces.

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