The untold history of North Korea's brutal kidnapping raids
The kidnapping victims aren’t just interrogated and then left to their own devices. They are not permitted to live freely in the North. They are monitored and controlled very strictly. When I reflect on it now, kidnappings really are some of the worst forms of human rights abuses that the regime has perpetrated. On the other hand, in North Korea, being mobilized to participate in a “fishermen strategy” is considered a high honor. It’s a task closely associated with contributing to unification, Kimilsungism, revolution, and communism. Under those important banners, the act of taking a fisherman’s life was considered inconsequential. Instead, it was considered a proud act.
The general tactic is to pick the youngest person as the kidnapping victim. They tend to retain the most value into the future. When a North Korean boarding party seizes a boat, they board it and assess the crew. Small and medium sized boats have anywhere from one to eight crew. The kidnappers pick the youngest one to kidnap and the remaining crew are all killed. The purpose is to leave no trace. The crew are all placed in the hold where the fish are stored and the door is fixed shut with wire. Then the boat is sunk and all the evidence disappears.
While I was doing my service, we oversaw the kidnapping of at least 80 South Korean and Japanese victims. In South Korea, people more or less understand that the victims have been killed, but in Japan it is a bit harder for them to believe. Everyone on the boat except for a single person is killed on the spot. I undertook those tasks for 20 years. North Korea has undertaken these tasks for 40 years. But there is still an air of mystery surrounding the kidnappings.
excerptedhttp://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14378&cataId=nk00100
