• Ⅰ. Background and Causes of abduction to North Korea

At 4 a.m. on June 25, 1950, North Korea staged a surprise attack on South Korea across the 38th Parallel without a declaration of war and seized Seoul just three days later. It then perpetrated specifically targeted abduction of important figures including intellectuals to consolidate its regime. It also forcibly consripted a vast number of people to supplement depleting manpower for its war effort.

• Ⅱ. Stages of Abduction and Suffering of Abductees

As soon as the Korean War began, North Korea systematically executed a large-scale plan to capture and mobilize South Koreans. Tied up in rope and kept under heavy guard of North Korean soldiers, the abductees were forced to move on foot at night to avoid bombing. The North Korean Army forcibly conscripted young South Koreans as "volunteer" soldiers or workers and then took them to the North. About 100,000 South Korean civilians are estimated to have been taken to the North during the Korean War.

• Ⅲ. Efforts for Repatriation and Suffering of Abductees' Families

The South Korean government recognized that North Korea was committing abductions during the war and actively sought solutions in partnership with the general public by listing up abductees, raising the issue during the Armistice negotiations, organizing rescue rallies for abductees' families, exploring the whereabouts through the International Red Cross, and filing petitions with the United Nations for repatriation of the abductees signed by one million South Koreans, etc. However, North Korea continues to claim that nobody was abducted and even declines to confirm the victims' fates and whereabouts.

• Ⅳ. Abduction, Human Rights, and Efforts for Unification

Despite the efforts of both the government and the general public to repatriate the abductees since the signing of the Armistice, the suffering persists among the abductees and their families. One small thing we can do for them as members of the community is to continue to take interest in this issue so that it can be resolved in the course of peaceful unification of the two Koreas and human rights of the victims and their family members are upheld again.