June 2016 – Bring My Father Home

From Hwang Solo to Team Hwang

June 28, 2016: On December 11, 1969, a North Korean agent hijacked domestic flight Korean Air NAMC YS-11 from Gangwon to Gimpo just 10 minutes after take-off at 12:25 pm. All 50 people on board (46 passengers and 4 crew members) were abducted by North Korea.

The North Korean government eventually released 39 people, but held the other 11. One of those kidnapped is Hwang Won, then a producer with MBC. For about 15 years, his son, Hwang In-Cheol, has been asking the North Korean regime to return his father, doing a balancing act of raising awareness and pressure, without unnecessarily provoking the regime, and keeping it a non-political purely humanitarian effort. Continue reading at The Korea Times.

A Son’s Plea From Imjingak: Please Return My Kidnapped Father

On June 17, Hwang In Cheol (47), president of the 1969 KAL Kidnapping Victims’ Family Association, appealed for the return of his kidnapped father, Hwang Won (a 32-year-old producer at MBC at the time of kidnapping), at Imjingak’s Bridge of Freedom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Hwang, his family, and approximately 10 members of the North Korean defectors support group Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) met the same day to support the return of those kidnapped to North Korea. Continue reading at The Daily NK.

Imjingak Rally Flyer

Here is the flyer that was distributed before and during the Imjingak Rally.

Flyer screenshot

Bring My Father Home Imjingak Rally

June 17, 2016: TBS EFM’s report by Chance Dorland about our “Please Bring My Father Home 우리 아버지를 돌려주세요” rally at Imjingak:

Mr. Hwang’s Speech at Imjingak

June 17, 2016: Mr. Hwang’s speech at the June 17 rally at Imjingak organised with the assistance of Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR).

Do you know why this bridge is important? This bridge is the very bridge that my father was not able to return on.

In 1969, my father was on the hijacked plane with 49 other passengers. Fifty people were kidnapped. However, only 39 people were allowed to return; eleven were unable to return.

Those 39 who were able to return came back on this bridge. I still believe that those other 11 people should be able to cross the same bridge and return home. There is not a single reason that my father deserves to be forced to stay in North Korea.

I’m certain that through your support and through your interest, we will be able to bring my father home to South Korea. I plead with you to take interest in my cause and my father’s cause and also to sympathize with us and my family. Thank you.

Oh Se-hyek’s Imjingak Rally Speech

We were proud and extremely grateful to have TNKR speech competition winner Oh Se-hyek join us for the June 17 rally at Imjingak in support of Mr. Hwang. Here is his speech:

Peter Daley’s Imjingak Rally Speech

A slightly revised version of the speech follows:

While listening to Mr. Hwang tell the story of his father a few months ago, I was reminded of the plight of the first person I met who had escaped from North Korea.

That person was not a North Korean defector. He was a prisoner of war. On June 9, 1953, Yoo Young-Bok, a South Korean soldier, was captured by Chinese forces. Continue reading “Peter Daley’s Imjingak Rally Speech”

Son Calls for NK to Return Abducted Father

June 17, 2016: Hwang In-cheol holds up a sign saying “North Korea…Be Free My Father” at an event to send a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the border city Paju, north of Seoul, on June 17, 2016. His father Hwang Won has been in captivity since December 1969, when a South Korean plane carrying Hwang, a radio producer, and 50 other crew members and passengers was hijacked by a North Korean agent on its way from the eastern South Korean city of Gangneung to Seoul.