If people want to go to North Korea, why not let them go?

When soldiers on Wednesday prevented a 95-year-old former prisoner of war from crossing no-man’s land and returning to North Korea, they were sticking to the law and to longstanding practice. We all know that. But in denying an old man a final wish, we as a country failed not just to respect his freely made choice, upholding his dignity as an individual citizen. We also failed in a collective sense at a moment of opportunity to remind ourselves and our North Korean foe of our superior values. The man, Ahn Hak-sop, has a remarkable story. It’s one that most of us are not aware of and would likely not care for if we were, given Ahn is an unrepentant fan of North Korea. Here is his story. When he was 23, Ahn, a soldier in the People’s Army, was captured in a battle with South Korean troops. In prison, authorities discovered he was not North Korean at all, but from Ganghwa Island in the South and that he had volunteered to fight for the communists. Instead of being shoved in with the other prisoners of war, he was charged with collaboration. Family members heard of his plight but it toWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times