July 30, 2016: Here is Mr. Hwang’s speech at Seoul University of Foreign Studies at the second “Stories from the North” speech forum organised in conjunction with Teach North Korean Refugees.
NK Refugees to Share Their Stories at Joint Panel Event
July 27, 2016: North Korean refugees will share their stories at a panel event with scholars, activists and volunteers. The mini-conference, hosted by Teach North Korean Refugees and Seoul University of Foreign Studies, will feature two panels…
The refugee speakers will include North Korean-American Cherie Yang and Hwang In-Cheol, the son of a man who was on the 1969 airplane hijacked by a North Korean agent. Lartigue said he was telling his story to help efforts to get his father freed. Continue reading at The Korea Herald.
UN Requests NK to Release Fate of 14 Abductees Including Former KAL Crew
July 19, 2016: The United Nations has officially called on North Korea to release information on the fate of 14 people held captive in the reclusive country, including a South Korean plane crew kidnapped 47 years ago, a U.S.-based media outlet said Tuesday.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) said the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) also requested the Pyongyang regime confirm whether the five North Korean defectors who were forcibly taken back to North from China and six people who were arrested in North Korea for their anti-state activities are still alive. …
The request comes as a South Korean politician said recently that North Korea is still holding more than 500 South Koreans abducted since the end of the Korean War in 1953, including 11 from a Korean Air Lines (KAL) passenger aircraft. Continue reading at Yonhap News.
After 43 Years Trapped in NK, A Survivor Fights Back
July 5, 2016: Kawasaki Aiko is currently the head of an NGO that helps defectors in their attempt to set up their new lives in Japan. She is also behind a major international effort to conduct an investigation to discover the truth behind the repatriations.
Kawasaki Aiko is extremely busy these days, preoccupied with the task of bringing these issues to the public’s attention. In the process, she has become a nuisance to the North Korean authorities, Chongryon (the pro-Pyongyang federation of Korean residents in Japan), and the Japanese government. That’s because she insists that the repatriations are not some piece of forgotten history that can be easily swept under the rug, but a collection of human rights infractions that continue to this day. Continue reading at Daily NK.
Son Crusades to Meet Father Hijacked to NK
July 4, 2016: When Hwang In-cheol was 2 years old, his father disappeared. … It wasn’t until Hwang was in the third grade that his father’s brother decided he should know the truth.
Hwang Won was a 32-year-old producer for Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) based in Gangwon. On Dec. 11, 1969, he boarded a Korean Air flight from Gangneung, Gangwon, for Gimpo International Airport in Seoul to attend an MBC internal meeting. A senior colleague who was supposed to attend was busy. He ordered Hwang to fill in for him. Continue reading at The Korea JoongAng Daily.
Letter to the UN Secretary-General by Mr Hwang & Petition
Please sign the accompanying petition in English, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, or Chinese.
Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon:
My name is In-cheol Hwang, and I represent the Families of the KAL Passengers Abducted by North Korea. As I am writing you this letter with a heart anguished beyond repair, I am still desperately longing to see my father. Continue reading “Letter to the UN Secretary-General by Mr Hwang & Petition”
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.
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: