[Forgotten Hero] ① 'Life-risking Return' South Korean POW... Ministry of National Defense Focused on 'Rank'

Among 80 Returnees, 70 Assigned Lowest 3 Grades
"An Anachronistic Self-Harm Act Diluting North Korea's Responsibility"
Sung Il-jong: "All Fought with Their Lives... Needs Reconsideration"

Editor's NoteJuly 27, 1953. The armistice agreement was signed, and gunfire ceased on the Korean Peninsula. However, tens of thousands of South Korean POWs were forced into North Korean coal mines without returning to their families, and the young soldiers who went to the battlefield became "forgotten heroes" neglected by their homeland. Seventy years later, the surviving detainees in North Korea are estimated to be over 90 years old. This is why the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's term is regarded as the "last chance." On the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement, we examine the system that has ignored the sacrifices of South Korean POWs and seek improvement measures.

The government has been revealed to have classified South Korean POWs who risked their lives to escape from North Korea into grades, assigning the "lowest grade" to 9 out of 10 returning veterans. This unrealistic standard, which does not consider the special circumstances of being detained by an enemy country, is criticized for belittling the sacrifices of soldiers who went to war for their homeland.

Graphic of Korean War POWs [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to Asia Economy on the 24th through the office of Seong Il-jong, a member of the People Power Party, the Ministry manages returning South Korean POWs (registered POWs) by dividing them into grades 1 to 3 based on criteria such as maintaining dignity and cooperation with the detaining country. There are 80 POWs who returned alive, and among them, 70 (87.5%) were assigned the lowest grade, grade 3. There is not a single POW honored with grade 1. The first returning POW, the late Lieutenant Jo Chang-ho, who returned in 1994 before the related law was enacted, was classified as "ungraded," and the remaining nine were assigned grade 2.

The "South Korean POW grading system" began with the enactment of the Act on the Treatment of South Korean POWs during the Kim Dae-jung administration in 1999. It was intended to provide differentiated support payments based on the detainees' conduct during captivity. Currently, this law has been replaced by the Act on the Repatriation and Treatment of South Korean POWs enacted in 2007, but the method of grading veterans remains unchanged. Based on the "monthly support amount," grade 1 corresponds to ten times 43% of the median income, grade 2 to seven times, and grade 3 to six times, with differences applied according to conduct during captivity.

The Ministry of National Defense's criteria for grade 1 are as follows: ▲ those who demonstrated a strong spirit of sacrifice and served as a model for other POWs, ▲ those who maintained dignity and fulfilled their duties as South Korean POWs, ▲ those who suffered damages such as forced labor for refusing to cooperate with the detaining country (North Korea). The criteria for grade 3, which applies to most South Korean POWs, include ▲ joining public organizations of the detaining country and cooperating with its policies, or ▲ having committed acts that damaged the identity of the Republic of Korea under coercion against their will.

However, the act of grading itself is inappropriate, and the standards fail to consider the situation of being detained by an enemy country. The grade 1 requirement of "strong spirit of sacrifice" is difficult to prove and unrealistic. In particular, although it is well known that South Korean POWs were subjected to inhumane persecution and forced to work in coal mines for life, most of them were classified as grade 3 for "indirect hostile acts." Considering North Korea's behavior, forbidding even unavoidable cooperation for survival is in effect a demand to resist and sacrifice one's life.

South Korean POWs Forced to Work in Coal Mines for Life... Ministry of National Defense Treats Them as 'Criminals'

A scene of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army transporting South Korean prisoners of war during the Korean War. [Image source: book 'The Korean War as They Saw It 1']

The tendency to treat POWs as criminals is also pointed out to be influenced by Japanese militarism. In the past, Japan regarded surrender or becoming a POW in any situation during World War II as "treason." Officers who failed in operations were ordered to commit "seppuku" (ritual suicide), and those who returned alive after becoming POWs were treated as traitors. Victors were heroes, the dead were patriotic spirits, but those who returned alive without winning the battle were considered criminals. This content is known to have been included in Japanese textbooks during the militaristic era.

In contrast, Western societies provide the utmost respect even to former POWs. The United States, which regards "veteran affairs" as a national value, is a representative example. For instance, John McCain (1936?2018), a Republican senator who was a POW during the Vietnam War and used for propaganda, later ran for president. Despite lifelong disability from torture, he was regarded as a "hero who endured suffering for his country." He lost the party primary to George W. Bush in 2000 and the presidential election to Barack Obama in 2008 but was active as a major figure in American politics, called a "true conservative."

Shin Hee-seok, former legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group, criticized, "The grading system is an act of shifting the government's responsibility, which has failed to repatriate a single South Korean POW in 70 years, onto the POWs themselves and a self-harming act that dilutes North Korea's responsibility for violating the armistice agreement. Civilian abductees are not graded based on conduct during captivity, but only the military continues this outdated practice."

Military Differentiates Treatment Based on Conduct... "Warriors Who Sacrificed for the Country"

Seong Il-jong, member of the People Power Party

The government holds the position that it is reasonable to differentiate treatment based on conduct during detention in North Korea. The intention is to distinguish between soldiers who resisted as POWs and those who cooperated with the enemy country to survive. A Ministry of National Defense official stated, "It is reasonable to verify the conduct of South Korean POWs during captivity and provide compensation and treatment commensurate with their sacrifice and merits, which also aligns with public sentiment."

On the other hand, Seong Il-jong, a member of the People Power Party, pointed out that even if captured as POWs, the fact remains that they fought for the country, and urged, "The Ministry of National Defense should proactively reconsider the treatment of South Korean POWs, including the grading system." He added, "All South Korean POWs are veterans who fought with their lives for the country," emphasizing, "No matter how much time passes, the state’s compensation and treatment for them must be sufficiently provided."

Meanwhile, human rights organizations supporting the repatriation of South Korean POWs, such as the nonprofit organization Mulmangcho, the South Korean POW Families Association, and the Transitional Justice Working Group, are demanding that President Yoon Seok-yeol meet with surviving POWs on the 27th, marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement. Previously, at his inauguration ceremony in May last year, President Yoon invited South Korean POW elders Lee Gyu-il, Kim Seong-tae, and Yoo Young-bok, the first time a president had done so. Elder Lee Gyu-il passed away in August last year.