Posted on 10/16/2013 1:18:05 AM PDT by TexGrill
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has hinted at the possibility of adapting a cold-war West Germany's policy by buying the freedom of political prisoners and abduction victims in North Korea.
West Germany paid hard currency to East Germany to win the release of political prisoners there under a scheme known as "Freikauf."
Ryoo told the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday previous administrations here "discussed a Freikauf policy of the kind implemented in pre-unification Germany, and we'll also review the possibility of introducing it."
Ryoo was replying to Democratic Party lawmaker Shim Jae-kwon, who asked, "Do you have any intention to adopt a Korean version of the Freikauf policy to win the release of 120,000 North Korean political prisoners, South Korean kidnapping victims, and hundreds of South Korean prisoners of war still living in the North?"
DP floor leader Jun Byung-hun also proposed this in a speech at the National Assembly on Oct. 8.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.chosun.com ...
Dumb. This will only increase the rate of kidnappings.
The kidnappings started when NK would nab people from beaches in wealthy areas and later exchange for hard currency. IIRC, they also did this with Japanese
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