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SKorea to give financial assistance to victims of abduction by North Korea for first time

AP - Wednesday, April 30

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea approved on Tuesday its first financial assistance package to victims of abductions by the North.

A Unification Ministry statement said a government commission approved a total of about 1.1 billion won (US$1.1 million, €700,000) in compensation to 31 families of abductees, and to one abductee who returned home after decades in North Korea.

The communist nation abducted hundreds of South Korean civilians, mostly fishermen, up to the early 1970s following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The two sides technically remain at war.

Seoul estimates that about 480 citizens are still held in the North. Pyongyang says they voluntarily defected.

Each of 30 families whose relatives are still kept in the North will be given some 30 million won (US$30,000; €19,196), while a returned abductee will receive a larger sum _ about 150 million won (US$150,000; €96,000) _ to help him settle in the South, the commission said.

The commission said it received 148 compensation applications since November, and has so far ruled on 31 cases.

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