"Please Return Our Family Taken to North Korea"

Ministry of Unification Produces Promotional Video on Detainee Issue
'Ad Genius' Lee Je-seok: "With the Heart of My Own Family"
Detainees' Families: "Hope North Korean Detainee Issue Is Widely Known"

The government has produced a video to build public consensus on resolving the issues of abductees, detainees, and Korean War prisoners of war. Given that this is a joint project with Lee Je-seok, the head of Lee Je-seok Advertising Research Institute, who is known in the industry as an "advertising genius," expectations for the promotional impact are high.

The Ministry of Unification announced on the 11th that since March of this year, it has been working with Lee Je-seok Advertising Research Institute to produce a promotional video so that more citizens can empathize with the pain of missionaries Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Guk-gi, and Choi Chun-gil, who are detained in North Korean detention facilities, along with their families. The ministry plans to intensively promote this content throughout June.

A promotional video on the issue of detainees in North Korea, jointly planned by the Ministry of Unification and the Lee Jae-seok Advertising Research Institute.

A promotional video on the issue of North Korean detainees, jointly planned by the Ministry of Unification and the Lee Jae-seok Advertising Research Institute.

The government plans to spread the video online and use related seminars and events as opportunities to inform the world that "six of our citizens, including three South Korean missionaries, are forcibly detained in North Korea."

A Ministry of Unification official emphasized, "This year marks the 10th anniversary since missionaries Kim Guk-gi and Choi Chun-gil, who have families in South Korea, have not been able to return home," adding, "Public understanding and empathy regarding the detainee issue are more urgent than ever."

He continued, "June is the month when American Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea, passed away; when the Seoul UN Human Rights Office was established as a follow-up to the 2015 UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on North Korean human rights; when North Korea retaliated by sentencing missionaries Kim Guk-gi and Choi Chun-gil to life labor reform; and it is also the month when the Korean War, the root cause of the abductee, detainee, and Korean War prisoner issues, broke out," adding, "The government recognizes this as a very important time to resolve the issues of abductees, detainees, and Korean War prisoners."

The video released by the Ministry of Unification is composed of four main cuts. Figures symbolizing missionaries Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Guk-gi, and Choi Chun-gil each appear wearing name tags. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology was applied to the actual faces of the three missionaries to depict their detention in North Korea. In 2014, the three missionaries are shown smiling brightly beside their families, but in 2024, they appear in stark contrast?captured by North Korean People's Army soldiers or confined in detention camps. This seems to express the harsh reality of the three individuals unjustly detained by North Korea.

Lee Je-seok, who was in charge of producing the content, said, "I worked with a desperate heart as if I had lost my own family," emphasizing, "As citizens of South Korea, more people need to take interest so that these individuals can return to their families as soon as possible."

A promotional video on the issue of North Korean detainees, jointly planned by the Ministry of Unification and the Lee Jae-seok Advertising Research Institute.

A promotional video on the issue of detainees in North Korea, jointly planned by the Ministry of Unification and the Lee Jae-seok Advertising Research Institute.

The family of a missionary detained in North Korea also shared their thoughts after viewing the video. Choi Jin-young, son of missionary Choi Chun-gil, said, "There are very few people who know about the detention of missionaries Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Guk-gi, and Choi Chun-gil in North Korea, to the extent that I even resented my father because I could not contact him," adding, "I read books by Lee Je-seok, who is called an advertising genius, and I hope this campaign he participated in will widely raise awareness of the detainee missionaries' issue." He added, "If the public voice for confirming the detainees' survival and their repatriation grows louder, as a son, I think I will gain the strength to hold on with hope."

A Ministry of Unification official stated, "Together with our citizens and through cooperation with the international community, we will do our utmost to ensure that missionaries Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Guk-gi, and Choi Chun-gil can return to their families in South Korea as soon as possible."