Taken! - US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Other Abductees, Some of Whom May Still Be Alive in North Korea,Have Been Identified, But Very Little is Known About ThemLittle is known about Kenzo Kozumi’s abduction in 1961, and even less aboutthe rest of his life in North Korea. However, the Japanese National Police Agencyhave issued an arrest warrant for a North Korean operative named Choe Sung Cholwho assumed Mr. Kozumi’s identity in Japan. Pretending to be Kozumi, OperativeChoe conducted espionage operations for many years, including abducting KaoruHasuike and Yukiko Okudo on July 31, 1978. 71Ms. Hong Leng-ieng was abducted from Macau on July 2, 1978, alongwith another native of Macau named Ms. So Mio-chun. Their abduction to NorthKorea was noted in the independent accounts of Choi Eun-hee, Kim Hyon-hui, andCharles Robert Jenkins, all of whom knew Ms. Hong in North Korea.Hong told Choi that soon after being sent to Pyongyang, she and Ms. Sovisited the Indonesian Embassy there to plead for asylum. After deliberating forsome time, Indonesian officials brought out a magazine containing a picture of Choiand asked if they had seen her. Their interest in Ms. Choi can only be explained byher fame; she was not an Indonesian citizen. After replying that they hadn’t seen thefamous actress, the embassy officials turned the two women away, saying they couldbe of no further assistance since the women did not hold Indonesian citizenship.When they were told to leave the embassy, Ms. So resisted strongly. The two womenwere then separated and never saw each other again. 72Ms. So Mio-chun was never heard from again. Ms. Hong’s present status andwhereabouts are also unknown. It is possible that they could still be living in NorthKorea. Hong was only 20 years old at the time of her abduction in 1978.A Thai national, Ms. Anocha Panjoy, was also abducted in Macau, andtransported to North Korea in the same boat with Hong and So. Ms. Panjoy wasreported missing on July 2, 1978, although she was probably abducted earlier. Whenshe left her Macau apartment on May 21, 1978, she told friends that she was on herway to the beauty salon. Until Charles Jenkins told her story 27 years later, no onehad any idea what had become of her. 73In North Korea, Ms. Panjoy lived near Jenkins for nine years (1980-1989).Jenkins recalled that she had been forced to marry U.S. military deserter LarryAbshier. She was with Abshier when he died of a heart attack on July 11, 1983.Because they had no children, she stayed with the Americans until April 1989, whena member of the KWP told Panjoy they had found another husband for her. She was71Kozumi is not yet listed by the Government as a victim of abduction by the DPRK, but the two majorJapanese NGOs list him as a victim based on the information they have gathered on their own. See also1978Abductions: Police Get Warrants for Pyongyang Agents. The Japan Times Online. 24 February 2006.; NiigataPrefectural Police Department Document: http://www.police.pref.niigata.jp/onegai/ratiyougi/e_page02.html72Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok, Jogukeun Jeohaneul Jeommeolli (Kidnapped to the Kingdom of Kim Jong-Il),Vol I., p. 306-307.73Information obtained from the Association for the Rescue of North Korean Abductees (ARNKA), Chiangmai,Thailand.moved to be with a German national involved in trading, and she has never beenseen outside of North Korea since then. 74In June 1979, a South Korean teacher named Ko Sang-moon was abductedwhile in Europe. Some sources indicate that he disappeared in Norway; 75 others,perhaps because of problems of translation, say the Netherlands. 76 North Korea laterclaimed he defected to North Korea of his own volition after he entered the NorthKorean Embassy in Oslo, Norway; South Koreans suggested that Ko’s taxi drivermight have mistakenly delivered him to the wrong Korean Embassy. 77In 2005, Jenkins reported that between the years of 1980 and 1981 he saw aforeigner operating a ride at an amusement park in Pyongyang.Five women were abducted from Singapore in 1978. They were: Yeng Yoke-Fun, Yap Me Leng, Seetoh Taih Thim, Margaret Ong Gat Choo, Diana Ng KumYim. 78In August 1987, Lee Chae-hwan, a South Korean studying at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, was abducted while visiting Austria. 79 Hisfather had sent him to Europe for the summer hoping he could “absorb a little ofEuropean culture.” 80The Lebanese women referred to earlier in this chapter were sent to anespionage training facility where they saw a number of foreigners whose presencein North Korea is noted only because they gave this eyewitness account:“Once our passports were confiscated, we were sent to an institution where we weretrained in spy activities including judo, taekwondo, karate, eavesdropping as well asbeing given indoctrination lectures to believe the teachings of Kim Il-Sung. Therewere 28 young ladies in the institute including 3 French, 3 Italian, 2 Dutch ladiesamong other Western-European and Middle-Eastern ladies. They were equallypowerless in rebelling against their captors.” 10The rest of the story of these unfortunate foreigners whose names are notknown, but who were seen in North Korea, may never be known.Countless others may be captives in North Korea, victims of a regime thatkeeps their existence secret. They may be unknown to anyone except their captors.74Jenkins, Charles. To Tell the Truth, (Kadokawa Shoten, 2005), 140-148, 155.75Kyodo News Service, “Taguchi Seen Alive Last Year in Pyongyang Along with Two South Abductees,” January20, 2011.76Lankov, Andrei. “Body snatching, North Korean style,” Asian Times Online. February 26, 2005. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GB26Dg01.html77Ibid.78“North Korea denies Jenkins’ claims”. News Straits Times (Malaysian Newspaper, in English translation),December 20, 2005.79U.S. Congressional Research Service. North Korean Provocative Actions, 1950-2007. Order Code RL30004,20 April 2007. By Hannah Fischer. Accessed: 3 January 2011.80Sakie Yokota, ‘North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter,” p.122.81Translation by HRNK staff of an article from the Lebanese newspaper El Nahar, November 9, 1979.32 33