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Tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers were captured by North Korean and Chinese forces during the Korean War (1950–1953) but were not returned during the prisoner exchanges under the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. Most are presumed dead, but the South Korean government estimated in 2007 that some 560 South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) still survived in North Korea.[1][2] The issue of unaccounted South Korean POWs from the Korean War has been in dispute since the 1953 armistice. North Korea continues to deny that it holds these South Korean POWs.[3] Interest in the issue has been renewed since 1994, when Cho Chang-ho, a former South Korean soldier presumed to have been killed in the war, escaped from North Korea. As of 2008, 79 former South Korean soldiers had escaped from North Korea.
There have also been reports that several hundred US prisoners of war may not have been returned by North Korea,[4][5] but the vast majority of unaccounted POWs are South Koreans.
- ^ 2007 Ministry of Defense Report to the National Assembly (2007년 국방부 국정 감사 자료). Ministry of Defense, Republic of Korea. 2007.
- ^ "조국은 당신들을 잊지 않습니다 : 국군포로문제의 실상과 대책".
- ^ "Lee offers salute to Korean War veterans".
- ^ The U.S. knew in 1953 North Koreans Held American P.O.W.'s. New York Times, September 17, 1996 article.
- ^ Nigel Cawthorne's book The Iron Cage is a sequel to his controversial book The Bamboo Cage, about Vietnam War POWs. The Iron Cage concerns unreturned POWs from earlier wars, particularly Korea and World War II.