Don’t Ask for Remains, Whatever You Do

South Korea has charged a South Korean man for conspiring to help North Korean agents kidnap Kim Dong-Shik in China, where he was helping North Korean refugees. The essential facts have been known for years, but the evidence recently and inexplicably became impossible to ignore. It may be perfectly true, as this article suggests, that a North Korean spy caught posing as a defector led to the big break in the case. Could Korea’s inferiority complex about Japan also be responsible for the South Korean governmnent’s unwillingness to cover this one up, as it had done for years despite everyone knowing what had probably happened to this man? After all we’ve heard about Japan demanding a full accounting for its abducted citizens, there must be growing pressure for South Korea to act like, well, a government that protects its own citizens.

The Chosun offers this interesting quotation:

With this latest misdeed, the North Korean regime has shown the true regard in which it holds the Republic of Korea. The leadership seemed fully cognizant of the fact that the Seoul government would not protest even in circumstances where it recognizes that its own citizens have been kidnapped.

The Chosun missed an equally important point, which is what this reveals about President Roh’s true regard for his own citizens, and of course, the Korean citizens this brave man was trying to assist.