South Korea called for renewed inter-Korean dialogue on Thursday to ensure the safe return of South Korean citizens held captive in North Korea, a day after President Lee Jae Myung said he was not aware of the detainees’ situation.

In a press release, the ROK presidential office highlighted hurdles to securing the release of South Korean missionaries Kim Jung-wook (Kim Jong Uk), Choi Chun-gil (Choe Chun Gil) and Kim Kook-kie (Kim Kuk Gi) and three North Korean defectors, who have been detained by Pyongyang since their arrests between 2013 and 2016 on charges of espionage. The presidential office withheld the defectors’ names, citing concerns about their families’ safety.

“With inter-Korean dialogue and exchanges suspended for an extended period, the suffering of our citizens caused by national division continues, and the issue is in urgent need of resolution,” the release said.

“We will work to resolve this matter based on public consensus and through efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue as soon as possible,” it added.

South Korea’s call for dialogue to help resolve the years-long issue comes a day after President Lee said he was not aware of the detainees’ situation in response to an NK News query on Wednesday, instructing his National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac to provide further information.

Wi subsequently told NK News that Seoul aims to make efforts, “including consultations with the North,” to secure the detainees’ release.

He added that South Korea is willing to send “unconverted communists” back to the DPRK, referring to six North Korean prisoners of war, the first time Seoul has proposed such a move since it repatriated 63 North Koreans in Sept. 2000.

On Thursday, Seoul’s unification ministry also affirmed the government’s efforts to bring back the six detainees. 

“The government recognizes the urgency of resolving the detainee issue and is working to address it through dialogue with North Korea,” the ministry said.

The statement highlighted South Korea’s efforts to raise the detainees’ situation in past dialogue with the DPRK. 

In one such occasion, then-Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon broached the subject during high-level talks in June 2018. In response, Ri Son Gwon, the head of the DPRK delegation, said “relevant domestic expert bodies are currently conducting a thorough review,” according to the ministry.

The statement also mentioned the Lee administration’s efforts to provide “comfort” for the detainees’ families through ongoing communication, noting unification minister Chung Dong-young’s meeting with the families of Choi Chun-gil and Kim Jung-wook in September.

The ministry emphasized the need for international cooperation as essential to reinforcing Seoul’s efforts at outreach, and highlighted the inclusion of the detainee issue in a South Korean-sponsored North Korean human rights resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly’s Third Committee last month.

“Going forward, the government will continue to make multifaceted efforts to secure the return of our citizens detained in North Korea,” the ministry stated.

ONGOING IMPASSE

Despite Seoul’s stated efforts at outreach, there appears to be little sign of progress as Pyongyang remains unresponsive under its current policy rejecting inter-Korean dialogue.

Successive administrations under former presidents Park Geun-hye, Moon Jae-in and Yook Suk Yeol have sought the return of Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-kil, who have been detained since Oct. 2013, Oct. 2014 and Dec. 2014, respectively.

North Korea previously sentenced the three missionaries and another captive, Ko Hyon-chol, to life in prison on charges of espionage and having ties to South Korean intelligence. The four individuals are the only ROK detainees identified by state media.

Two others named Kim Won-ho and Park have reportedly been detained since 2016 and 2017, respectively, and media reports suggest a possible seventh, Ham Jin-woo, who may have been held captive since 2017.

The resumption of inter-Korean dialogue in 2018 and 2019 offered a chance to secure the detainees’ return, and one Moon-era official stressed on Thursday that the administration “made every possible effort” to address the issue at the time.

“Former President Moon personally pressed Chairman Kim Jong Un for the release of the detainees at both the Panmunjom summit and the Pyongyang summit,” former state affairs secretary Yoon Kun-young stated on social media, adding that the issue was “continuously addressed” during high-level inter-Korean talks.

Yoon added that the matter “came very close to being resolved” thanks to Moon’s efforts at the time, with the North Korean leader reportedly stating that he would do his best and return with “good news” regarding the detainees’ release.

Following the two leaders’ first summit at Panmunjom in April 2018, the presidential office reported that the Moon brought up the subject, but did not mention Kim’s response.

The former Blue House official Yoon explained on Thursday that the Moon administration did not elaborate on this purported progress at the time due to concerns that exposing details related to the process could “negatively affect the outcome.”

Any progress on this issue seemingly stalled due to deteriorating inter-Korean ties after a failed U.S.-DPRK summit in Hanoi in Feb. 2019, and hopes of renewed dialogue further dimmed as North Korea cut itself off from the outside world a year later due to the pandemic, according to Yoon.

“It remains deeply regrettable that we were unable to resolve the detainee issue at the time. Ensuring the safety of our citizens is the duty of the state,” he said, while expressing hope that improved inter-Korean relations would soon bring about the detainees’ return.

The administration of President Yook Suk Yeol, Moon’s successor, sought to maintain awareness of the issue and pushed for the safe return of the six confirmed detainees and others abducted by Pyongyang decades earlier, as part of a broader effort to draw attention to the North Korean regime’s human rights abuses.

However, the prospects of renewed dialogue have been negligible since Kim Jong Un swore off all engagement with South Korea two years ago.

Edited by David Choi