Abducted South Korean returns home from North after 31 years
Afp, Seoul
A South Korean fisherman returned to home soil and the tears of his family yesterday for the first time since a fishing trip in 1975 turned into a three-decade kidnap ordeal in communist North Korea. Choi Uk-Il, 67, touched down at Incheon Airport, west of Seoul, from China where he had been sheltering at the South Korean consulate after escaping the reclusive regime. Appearing healthy, wearing a trilby hat and coat and a flower necklace, he waved the South Korean flag, television footage showed. Then he was reunited with his wife, two daughters and a son waiting for him at the airport. He hugged his son while his wife and daughters wept. "I am so glad to be back after 31 years of being kidnapped," he said. Choi was among 33 South Koreans abducted by North Korea while fishing near the sea border in 1975. One escaped and returned home last year. He escaped to China last month with the help of a South Korean human rights activist group.
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