The South Korean government decided to add 274 more people, including the vice chief of the Korean Provisional Government during the Japanese colonial era, to its official list of abductees by North Korea during the 1950-35 Korean War, the commission appointed to the issue said Friday.
During the ninth meeting of the commission on the Korean War abductees, the government confirmed that 274 more Koreans were kidnapped by the North, bringing the total number of the victims officially tallied by the government to 2,265.
It was discovered that most of the newly recognized figures were abducted from their residences and forced to cross to the North by its People’s Army in 1950, the commission said.
While some 50 percent of them were farmers and fishermen, the new list also includes high-profile figures such as Kim Kyu-sik, former vice president of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai in the 1940s, lawmaker Shin Yong-hoon, and former Gyeonggi Governor Gu Ja-ok. (Yonhap News)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
