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The BIRCH BARK BBS / 414-242-5070
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Accuracy In Media
November 10, 1994


FROM WASHINGTON 
THIS IS 
MEDIA MONITOR 
WITH 
REED IRVINE AND CLIFF KINCAID
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HEADLINE: POW HELD PRISONER 43 YEARS RETURNS HOME 

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     That is a headline you should have seen on the front page of
your newspaper on October 25, but you didn't. You should have
seen the story on the evening television news programs, but the
only one that mentioned it was the CBS Evening News. ABC, NBC and
CNN didn't think it worth reporting that a South Korean Army
lieutenant who was captured by the Communists and sent to a
prison camp in North Korea in 1951 had managed to escape and make
his way home.

     Why do we think this story is so important? For years we
have been stymied in our efforts to get our government to demand
that North Korea, Vietnam and Laos free the Americans they
continued to hold prisoner after the wars in those countries
ended. The government has refused to accept all the evidence that
live American prisoners have been held in these countries all
these years, and many people have bought the argument that any
prisoners we left behind have long since died. They have found it
hard to believe that any of them could have survived the
mistreatment and harsh conditions to which the POWs were
subjected.

     And now the South Korean lieutenant, Cho Chang-ho, has 
destroyed this argument. Chang was captured in 1951 and sent to a
prison camp in North Korea. He was held there for nearly 13 years
before being sent to work in the coal mines. He was forced to
work in the mines up to 18 hours a day. There was no Korean OSHA
to enforce healthful working conditions. Cho developed chronic
lung disease, and in 1977 he was no longer able to continue the
arduous work in the mines.

     Somehow he survived another 17 years after that. Despite the
fact that he was old and sick he was determined to return to his
home in South Korea. We don't yet know the full story, but we do
know that as old and sick as he was, Cho managed to flee across
the Yalu River into China.  There friendly Koreans put him on a
smugglers boat and he finally found his way home and was reunited
with his family last month.

     Lt. Cho was one of some 40,000 South Koreans who were
missing and never accounted for at the end of the Korean War.
There were 8,177 American servicemen in the same status. We
know that at least 389 of them were known to have been captured
alive. If Cho could survive the harsh life that he endured for 43
years, many, if not most of these Americans could also have 
survived.

     Last year a document was found in the Russian archives that
confirmed other evidence that Vietnam continued to hold over 700
American prisoners after the end of the Vietnam War. That was
less than 20 years ago. If POWs could survive 43 years in North
Korea, they could surely survive 20 years in Vietnam. All
Americans of conscience should now demand that President Clinton
carry out his promises to the POW/MIA families by insisting that
North Korea and Vietnam free all the POWs they are holding
immediately. He has paid these countries millions of dollars for
bones. He should be demanding the men.

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