On August 8, the Ahn Hak Sop Repatriation Task Force held a press conference in front of the Yongsan Presidential Office under the banner: “Allow safe passage war veteran Ahn Hak-sop! Abolish the National Security Law!”
96-year-old Korean war veteran Mr. Ahn Hak Sop is calling for his repatriation to his homeland, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea). Mr. Ahn chose the path of independence and liberation for his country, overcoming the grief of a nation lost under Japanese colonial rule. During the Korean war, fully armed, he led his unit (Korean People’s Army) to the South, but in April 1953 he was captured and became a prisoner of war.
Mr. An testified, “According to international prisoner standards, I should have been classified as a prisoner of war and exchanged, because I came out after fully conquering the enemy forces, yet I was imprisoned. My human rights were brutally violated.” The Geneva Convention of 1949, Articles 3 and 118, explicitly guarantee the rights and repatriation of prisoners of war, especially, with Article 118 mandating the automatic return of all prisoner of wars upon the cessation of hostilities. Similarly, Article 3 of the 1953 Armistice Agreement on Measures regarding prisoners of war requires direct repatriation within 60 days.
The repatriation of Mr. Ahn Hak Sop is a matter of human dignity that transcends ideology and politics. After the Korean war, he should have been immediately released and repatriated, but in 1953 he was tried by a military court under the National Defense Security Act and unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment. Following the uprising in the South, April, 1960, long-term prisoners’ sentences were reduced to 20 years, and many were nearing release in the early 1970s. However, under the murderous counter-revolutionary operations of Park Chung-hee’s military dictatorship, many suffered extreme violence and torture, leading some to die in custody or commit suicide.
Mr. Ahn, who endured 43 years of humiliation and violence while steadfastly upholding his beliefs and ideology, was released in 1995. At a press conference, he declared, “What I sought to protect was not ideology, but human dignity.”Even though repatriation of Mr. Ahn Hak Sop is 72 years overdue, it must be carried out immediately. His repatriation should be conducted through Panmunjom.
Regarding his refusal of repatriation in 2000, Mr. Ahn explained, “Would you leave your house empty while a thief is inside? The US troops should withdraw first. That is why I did not go. My remaining life is short, and the oppression we suffered under colonial rule is unjust and painful. I hope to go to where my comrades, who shared life and death with me in prison, are buried.”
As a prisoner of war, Mr. Ahn demands that repatriation proceed through Panmunjom in accordance with the Geneva Convention, not through a third country. The root of the suffering he endured lies with the US military, which divided the homeland, and the anti-national, anti-reunification fascist National Security Law. Those who follow Mr. Ahn’s patriotism and will to struggle are determined to remove the US military, abolish the National Security Law, and accelerate a new world where the people are masters of their nation.
