Mr. Ahn Hak-seop, a 95-year-old former Unconverted Long-Term Prisoner, has expressed a strong desire to return to North Korea after reportedly hearing the government’s repatriation proposal.
In a phone interview with News1 on Wednesday, Ahn stated that he wants to spend my remaining years in North Korea, where his comrades are buried. He wishes to distance himself from South Korea’s independence movement, which has been under U.S. occupation, and return to North Korea, a truly sovereign nation.
Unconverted Long-Term Prisoners refers to individuals who maintained their socialist or communist ideologies while imprisoned in South Korea until 1999, following the country’s liberation and the Korean War. This group includes former guerrillas, North Korean soldiers, and pro-North spies.
Ahn was arrested in April 1953 and sentenced to 42 years in prison under the National Defense Law for treason. He was released in 1995. In September 2000, during President Kim Dae-jung’s administration, 63 Unconverted Long-Term Prisoners were repatriated through Panmunjom. However, Ahn chose to stay, vowing to continue the fight until U.S. troops leave.
Recalling that period, Ahn said that his comrades left with optimistic messages like “See you in three years”, but I made a firm commitment to see my mission through until the U.S. military withdraws.
Upon his release at age 60, Ahn returned to his hometown on Ganghwa Island, Incheon. However, even his family labeled him a commie, leading him to spend his later years in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.
Ahn explained that although he was released from prison, he’s lived under constant surveillance due to laws like the Security Observation Act. He fled to Gimpo because he couldn’t stand his family watching and suffocating him.
Now approaching the age of 100, Ahn’s health has rapidly declined due to pulmonary edema and myocardial infarction. Last month, he filed a petition with the government, strongly requesting repatriation to North Korea.
Ahn asserted that he was a legitimate prisoner of war, and it is right for the government to send him back to North Korea He added that even if he’s buried in North Korean soil, he’ll eagerly await the day U.S. troops withdraw from South Korea.
The Ahn Hak-seop Repatriation Promotion Team held a press conference on July 18, urging the government to repatriate Ahn through Panmunjom in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
The government currently recognizes six Unconverted Long-Term Prisoners who wish to return to North Korea.
Ri In-mo, who returned to North Korea on March 19, 1993, was the first repatriated Unconverted Long-Term Prisoner.
Since then, there have been no further discussions between North and South Korea on this issue, and the existence of Unconverted Long-Term Prisoners has largely faded from public consciousness.
