South Korean fisherman abducted by North Korea returns home after four decades

A South Korean fisherman, who was one of the 25 people abducted in 1972 by a North Korea naval ship, has reportedly escaped the country last month and returned back to his home.

More than 40 years after he was abducted while fishing near the disputed Yellow Sea border, the now 68-year-old Jeon Wook-pyo had reportedly arrived at the South Korean capital of Seoul recently after escaping from North Korea in early August.

According to Sky News, Jeon is under investigation by security authorities as those captives who make it back to South Korea are often treated with initial suspicion and subjected to a rigorous screening programme to ensure that they are not working for North Korea as spies.

The report mentioned that the whereabouts of Jeon's fellow crewmen are not known, with sources saying that Jeon had stayed in an undisclosed third country after fleeing North Korea on August 11, following which he then sent a letter to South Korean President Park Geun-hye seeking assistance.

South Korea has claimed that more than 500 of its citizens, most of them fishermen, have been abducted by North Korea in the 60 years since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the report added.