Families of South Korean soldiers held in the North are demanding recognition from their government.
Lee Dae-bong waded across a river into China to escape North Korea after half a century as a prisoner of warAt the age of 92, Lee Dae-bong doesn't particularly enjoy getting out of bed. He has lived enough of a life. As he readjusts his pyjamas, his left hand reveals three missing fingers.
Between 50,000 and 80,000 South Korean soldiers were held captive in North Korea after the Korean War ended with an armistice agreement that divided the peninsula. For the first years of his captivity Mr Lee was forced to work a week in the coal mine followed by a week studying North Korean ideology, until, in 1956, he and the other prisoners were stripped of their military titles and told to marry and assimilate into society.
"We gave our entire youths to that coal mine, waiting for and fearing a meaningless death at any moment," he says. "I missed home so much, especially my family. Even animals, when they are nearing death, go back to their caves."Lee Dae-bong was forced to carry out hard manual labour in North Korea's coal mines and lost three fingers in the process
Three days after his only son was killed in a mine accident, with his wife long dead, Mr Lee embarked on his journey. Now aged 77, he secretly waded across the river into China, the water up to his neck. At the age of 28, Ms Chae too chose to escape her painful existence in North Korea, crossing first into China, where she lived for 10 years. It wasn't until she arrived in South Korea that she realised her father was a hero.
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