farmgirl
12-24-2003, 08:12 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=19&u=/nm/korea_soldier_dc
SEOUL (*******) - A former prisoner of war in North Korea (news - web sites) flew home to South Korea (news - web sites) on Wednesday, 50 years after he was captured by communist forces in the Korean War.
Jeon Yong-il, 72, was taken prisoner in 1953, interned in North Korea and eventually escaped into China this year -- only to be caught and threatened with repatriation to the North.
"I served South Korea for the past fifty years and will not forget this return for the life of me," South Korea's Yonhap News agency quoted him as saying on arriving on a flight from China.
"I'll be living well back at home this late in my life, thanks to the South Korean government," Jeon said, referring to intensive diplomatic wrangling by Seoul officials.
The South Korea he left, overrun by invading North Korean troops in 1950, was a sleepy agricultural backwater barely recovered from 35 years of harsh Japanese colonial rule.
Now, hi-tech South Korea is the world's 12th largest economy.
Jeon said that, while in incarceration in China, he thought he would never live to see his homeland. He said he told Chinese authorities who questioned him that he had to go back home.
He was apprehended this year with a fake passport as he tried to fly to South Korea from China. He and a female companion had sneaked into China from North Korea in April or May this year.
Jeon joined the South Korean army in June 1951 and was caught by Chinese soldiers helping North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's troops during the 1950-53 conflict, according to South Korean diplomats in Beijing.
He had identified himself as a prisoner of war -- one of as many as 300 South Korea believes are still alive in North Korea.
But since Jeon was not on the South Korean Defense Ministry's list of prisoners of war -- he was on the killed-in-action list -- he was not helped until his family came forward with photos.
Beijing has an agreement with Pyongyang to repatriate North Koreans who illegally enter China. Defectors, aid workers and analysts say those sent back face torture or even execution at the hands of security forces.
SEOUL (*******) - A former prisoner of war in North Korea (news - web sites) flew home to South Korea (news - web sites) on Wednesday, 50 years after he was captured by communist forces in the Korean War.
Jeon Yong-il, 72, was taken prisoner in 1953, interned in North Korea and eventually escaped into China this year -- only to be caught and threatened with repatriation to the North.
"I served South Korea for the past fifty years and will not forget this return for the life of me," South Korea's Yonhap News agency quoted him as saying on arriving on a flight from China.
"I'll be living well back at home this late in my life, thanks to the South Korean government," Jeon said, referring to intensive diplomatic wrangling by Seoul officials.
The South Korea he left, overrun by invading North Korean troops in 1950, was a sleepy agricultural backwater barely recovered from 35 years of harsh Japanese colonial rule.
Now, hi-tech South Korea is the world's 12th largest economy.
Jeon said that, while in incarceration in China, he thought he would never live to see his homeland. He said he told Chinese authorities who questioned him that he had to go back home.
He was apprehended this year with a fake passport as he tried to fly to South Korea from China. He and a female companion had sneaked into China from North Korea in April or May this year.
Jeon joined the South Korean army in June 1951 and was caught by Chinese soldiers helping North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's troops during the 1950-53 conflict, according to South Korean diplomats in Beijing.
He had identified himself as a prisoner of war -- one of as many as 300 South Korea believes are still alive in North Korea.
But since Jeon was not on the South Korean Defense Ministry's list of prisoners of war -- he was on the killed-in-action list -- he was not helped until his family came forward with photos.
Beijing has an agreement with Pyongyang to repatriate North Koreans who illegally enter China. Defectors, aid workers and analysts say those sent back face torture or even execution at the hands of security forces.