Korean soldier sent to N. Korea during Vietnam War may have been executed: official

. By Sam Kim
SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean soldier heard condemning his government
on North Korean radio broadcasts after disappearing during the Vietnam War may
have been executed by a firing squad for trying to escape the communist state, a
Seoul official said Tuesday.

Army Ssg. Ahn Hak-soo was on his final furlough when he failed to return to his
unit fighting alongside U.S. troops in the 1954-75 war against communist
Vietnamese forces.
Hundreds of thousands of South Korean soldiers took part in the war from
1964-1973. Ahn was labeled a defector on South Korean records until April this
year, as he had been heard making anti-Seoul speeches on North Korean radio
months after he disappeared in September 1966.
Army Col. Oh Myoung at the Ministry of National Defense said his team, which went
on a fact-finding mission to Vietnam last year, found concrete evidence leading
them to believe that Ahn was captured by North Vietnamese forces and sent to
North Korea against his will.
"A ransom of US$3,000 was offered for every South Korean soldier captured at the
time," he told reporters, citing details that pointed to cooperation between
North Vietnamese forces and North Korea.
But Oh said a North Korean commando captured in 1976 while operating on a remote
South Korean island told intelligence authorities here that Ahn tried to flee.
"The commando heard that Ahn was executed by a firing squad after failing to
escape," Oh said, citing a military document that has been declassified only
recently because of its sensitivity.
"It is not 100 percent reliable intelligence, but it supports the fact that Ahn
was no longer heard after the possible execution," he said.
The Unification Ministry in Seoul had concluded in April that Ahn should be
considered one of tens of thousands of South Koreans kidnapped by North Korea.
Following on its heels, the Ministry of National Defense ruled in June that Ahn
be re-classified as a prisoner of war instead of a deserter and defector.
Ahn is not the only South Korean veteran on record who went AWOL in Vietnam. Sgt.
Park Seong-ryeol was also found speaking on North Korean radio while two others
-- a captain and a staff sergeant -- remain unaccounted for to this day, Oh said.
"We do not rule out the possibility that they, too, ended up in North Korea," he
said.
Nearly 5,000 South Korean soldiers died while about 10,000 others were wounded in
the Vietnam War.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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