The United Nations submitted an official request to Pyongyang for information on the fate of 14 South Korean nationals abducted by North Korean operatives, according to a recent U.S.-based Voice of America (VOA) report.
Among those on the abductee list presented last week by the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) were a former crew member of hijacked Korean Air Lines YS-11, five North Korean defectors arrested in China and repatriated back to North Korea, six South Korean nationals detained in North Korea for perceived anti-state activities, and two South Koreans abducted during the Korean War [1950-53].
The WGEID lodged a similar request in 2011, calling on North Korea to release information on three abductees, but North Korea refused, denying that the individuals were victims of forced disappearance.
