South Korean victims
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Prisoners of war
At the end of the Korean War, North Korea refused to repatriate at least 50,000 South Korean POWs in violation of the Armistice Agreement (27 July 1953) as well as the Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (12 August 1949)*.
The FOOTPRINTS currently documents only 1 South Korean Prisoner of War (POW). Since the mid-1990s, 80 South Korean POWs and over 430 family members* have escaped and arrived in South Korea. As of 2024, 71 POWs have passed away and only 9 have been verified to be alive.
*UN Human Rights Council. (2014, February 7). Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, A/HRC/25/63.
*ROK Ministry of National Defense. (2014). 2014 Defense White Paper.
Korean War abductees
During the Korean War, North Korea abducted 90,000-100,000 South Koreans* in occupied areas and refused to return them after the war in violation of the Armistice Agreement (27 July 1953) as well as the Geneva Convention (IV).
The COI report states that the abductions were widespread and organized, targeting young men for their expertise in farming, construction, medicine, and other technical skills beneficial to the maintenance of the socialist state infrastructure of North Korea.
*Ministry of Unification, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea, 2024.
Post-war abductees
Even after the Armistice Agreement (27 July 1953), North Korea is known to have abducted 3,835 South Korean citizens. 3,319 were returned to South Korea within a year, and 9 have subsequently escaped and returned to South Korea. This leaves 516 South Korean citizens still forcibly disappeared in and by North Korea*. Since 2013, North Korea has subjected at least 7 more South Korean citizens to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance*.
*Ministry of Unification. (2024). Post-war abductee.
*Ministry of Unification. (n.d.) Introduction.