The Politics of Reunions
Criminals kidnap for ransom. Regimes, for political capital
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean man allegedly abducted by the North met his mother for the first time in 28 years Wednesday amid concern the communist state is trying to use him as a tool to silence Japanese claims that his former Japanese wife is alive.
Kim Young-nam and his 78-year-old mother cried and hugged each other at the North’s Diamond Mountain resort, amid other reunions of Koreans divided by the world most heavily fortified border.
“I am very happy to see you are so healthy,” Kim told his heavily wrinkled mother, Choi Gye-wol, who sat in a wheelchair, according to television footage. “Stop crying, why do you cry on such a happy day?”
She responded, saying “Now, I don’t have any regret even if I die.”
Kim was just 16 when he disappeared from a beach on South Korea’s southwest coast in 1978. His family thought he had drowned but learned later from the South Korean government that he was believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents and forced to live there.
Now 45, Kim is among nearly 500 South Korean civilians believed to have been kidnapped by the communist state and still held there. North Korea claims they voluntarily defected.
Update: What do you know? After almost 30 years in North Korea Kim is spouting government talking points. Even if this was a real account it sure makes him a lousy son who does not write or call his mother.
Update II: The Yokoda’s are not buying it.
