Unification minister to meet civic group chiefs over abductees, detainees in N. Korea

▲ New unification minister honors war dead New Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho, South Korea's top point man on North Korea, speaks to reporters after paying tribute to South Korean patriotic martyrs and war dead at the National Cemetery in Seoul on July 31, 2023. (Yonhap)

unification minister-NK detainees

Unification minister to meet civic group chiefs over abductees, detainees in N. Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new unification minister will meet with chiefs of civic groups dedicated to resolving the issue of abductees and detainees in North Korea this week as his first official schedule since the inauguration, his office said Wednesday.

Minister Kim Yung-ho will have a meeting Thursday with representatives of such advocacy groups and a family member of a South Korean pastor detained in the North, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

The planned meeting underscores Kim's commitment to addressing the long-pending issue of South Koreans who have been detained in the North after abduction, including those kidnapped during and after the 1950-53 Korean War.

The ministry plans to set up a task force in charge of the detainee issue, and slim it down by relocating about 15 percent of its workforce as part of its major organizational reshuffle.

Kim took office as South Korea's new point man on unification Friday, with a pledge to pursue a principle-based inter-Korean policy amid frozen ties with North Korea caused by Pyongyang's provocations. He is a conservative professor known to be a vocal advocate of human rights.

Since 2013, six South Koreans, including three pastors, have been detained in North Korea on charges of committing what the North called anti-North Korea crimes.

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