North and South Korea to Discuss Abductee Issue

North Korea has agreed to discuss the abduction of South Koreans to North Korea over the past 50 years:

To date, a small number of South Korean families whose family members are believed to have been abducted by North Korea had been briefly reunited in the family reunion sessions of the two Koreas. Officially, however, North Korea flatly denies to have kidnapped any South Koreans during and after the war.

The South Korean government estimates that more than 500 South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) and some 480 civilians, mostly fishermen, are still alive in the communist North.

“We consider it progress in that the North agreed to work toward resolving the issue of confirming the fate of South Korean POWs and abductees, which it has been denying until now,’’ an official at the Unification Ministry said. “We will continuously make efforts to resolve the issue on the government level including the ministerial-level talks as well as the Red Cross talks.’’

It is an absolute embarrassment that South Korea has done so little to secure the release of so many of their illegally kidnapped citizens, especially after Japan was able to win the release of some of their kidnapped citizens.

I wonder if this development has anything to do with this?:

South Korea has informed North Korea that it will provide 150,000 tons of free fertilizer to the impoverished communist country to help it enhance its agricultural productivity, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.

Seoul’s decision came three weeks after the North requested 450,000 tons of fertilizer from South Korea, which has so far provided 1.9 million tons to North Korea since 1998.

The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said decision was made “on humanitarian grounds to ease food shortages of North Koreans by increasing agricultural productivity.”

Coincidence? I think not. South Korea gives aid in return for meaningless talks of reconciliation from North Korea to show the “Sunshine Policy” is working though it really isn’t. I have seen this game one to many times but the South Koreans love to fall for it so I can’t blame the Norks for continuously scheming to get aid from the South Koreans.