6 surviving ex-N. Korean soldiers, spies in S. Korea seek repatriation

Six former North Korean soldiers and spies who were jailed in South Korea for refusing to renounce their socialist beliefs have asked the Seoul government to repatriate them to the North, officials said Tuesday. Yang Won-jin, 96, Ahn Hak-sop, 95, and four others have recently submitted the formal request to the unification ministry, seeking to return to North Korea, a ministry official said. Known as "unconverted" long-term prisoners, they are former North Korean soldiers and spies who were arrested in the South before and after the 1950-53 Korean War, an ideologically driven conflict that left the Korean Peninsula divided into the communist North and the democratic South. Many others have died of old age or illness, still wishing to return home. They served decades in South Korean prisons for refusing to denounce their socialist beliefs at a time when South Korea was still under threat from communist ideology and have since remained unconverted. Holding a press conference the previous day, a civic group advocating Ahn's repatriation argued that he should be sent home under the Geneva ConWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times