Old Taboos of East Coast Fishermen [Sokcho·Goseong's Pain ①]

Movie 'Hijacking'... Highlights the Suffering of Families of Abductees and Defectors
Homes Raided and Taken to Remote Places for Torture
Identity Checks Block Employment Opportunities... No Compensation or Support

Editor's NoteThe background of the movie 'Hijacking' is Sokcho, Gangwon Province, in 1971. Yongdae (played by Yeo Jin-gu), who boards a passenger plane, detonates a homemade bomb inside the cabin shortly after takeoff. He quickly seizes control of the cockpit and terrorizes the passengers. "From now on, this plane is heading north of the 38th parallel." There are two main backgrounds for the abduction to the North: the benefits of handing over the passenger plane to North Korea and liberation from an oppressed life. The painful wounds of division have continuously constrained life. Families were monitored and controlled simply because they had defected to the North or were abducted. That pain was too great to just be covered up as a thing of the past. It is a painful wound that must be revisited and resolved.

Movie 'Hijacking' Still Cut

In Sokcho and Goseong, which was North Korean territory until the Korean War, there was an old taboo. It concerned the stories of those who were taken to North Korea and returned. How they were abducted, what they did, and even who never came back were not to be spoken of. If any of this leaked out, they were often accused of being spies or subjected to surveillance. The situations of those abducted to the North, defectors, or even those separated from their families due to division were no different. Their homes were frequently searched by counterintelligence agents, and sometimes they were taken to isolated buildings and tortured. Many were blocked from employment due to background checks. Yongdae is a young man who has endured such pain.

According to 'The Life and Truth of East Coast Abducted Fishermen,' published by Seorak Newspaper in 2008, there are numerous cases of suffering. Baek Seong-hyun, who lives in Goseong Geojin-eup, had two family members abducted, causing days of anguish. His father was abducted in the late 1950s while aboard the Jumunjin boat Gwangyeongho and later returned. His younger brother was abducted in 1967 while on the Nampoongho, which went out to sea, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. At that time, boats relied solely on compasses, making it difficult to determine their location. Fishermen worked close to the fishing boundary line because pollock gathered in the north during winter. Whether they crossed the boundary was confirmed by the location of maritime patrol boats. If they thought they had gone beyond the patrol boats, they judged they had crossed the boundary and returned.

The Nampoongho, on which Baek’s brother was aboard, quickly turned its bow southward but capsized and was subsequently taken by the North. After his brother’s abduction, Baek’s family was subjected to surveillance. Baek expressed that the saddest event was when another brother had a maritime accident. After graduating from Jumunjin High School, he was supposed to get a job at the Fisheries Wireless Station (now the Fisheries Information and Communication Bureau), but his background check blocked his employment. Eventually, he had to work on a boat in his hometown and lost his life in a storm in 1985.

Fishermen Abducted and Returned [Photo by The Academy of Korean Studies]

Kim Chang-kwon, who worked as a sanitation worker in Yeongnang-dong, Sokcho, cannot forget the early 1970s when his father was abducted and returned. His father, Kim Bong-ho, was the captain of the Changdongho. In 1971, while fishing for anchovies near the East Sea fishing boundary line, he was abducted. He and the crew returned the following year but were immediately arrested and taken to Chuncheon. They were interrogated about the abduction and their activities in the North. Kim Bong-ho was harshly reprimanded by the police because one crew member committed suicide out of fear of abduction. Ultimately, he served a prison sentence of one year and six months.

Families who lived without the head of the household for three years also suffered greatly. At that time, Sokcho fishermen struggled due to poor catches. The city of Sokcho even distributed relief rice (rice given free to those suffering from disasters or hardships). Even families of normal fishermen had difficulty making a living, so those without a father were in even worse shape. All of Kim Chang-kwon’s siblings, except two out of six, only graduated from elementary school and went to sea.

After his father’s release, he suffered from the aftereffects of torture. Living freely was impossible. Whenever he went out of town, he had to report to the police station. Kim Chang-kwon once argued with a friend working at the police station, saying, "What kind of trouble could someone who can barely walk cause that they need to report?" He himself experienced many setbacks due to his father’s abduction. Although he got jobs such as a train car vendor, he was unable to work due to background checks. Ultimately, he could not leave Sokcho and had to go back to working on boats.

A group photo of the crew members of the Odaeyang ship, who were abducted to North Korea in 1972, taken at Mount Myohyang in North Korea in 1974. (Photo provided by the Association of Families of Abductees)

In March 2008, Kim Chang-kwon attended a compensation briefing for abductees held at the Sokcho Cultural Center. However, he had to leave after hearing that no compensation or support would be provided. Most of the victims and their families who attended were in the same situation. The scope of support was narrow, and many voiced their grievances. Even after 16 years, nothing has changed.

"Only one person who went to the North and came back is still alive. I prepared all the documents to apply for compensation, but the Ministry of Unification just tells me to wait. They say those who died during the abduction process are not eligible for compensation."

"My older brother was abducted and has not returned. In Geojin, many people were abducted for six months or more than a year and came back. The suffering of their families is indescribable. A friend of mine was accepted to the Korea Military Academy but gave up because of background checks. Many people suffered due to the guilt-by-association system, but I don’t understand why such damages are not compensated."

"Even until the early 5th Republic, we had to live under constant surveillance. How could we prove now that we suffer from aftereffects of torture?"