United Nations Comes Through for US POW/MIAs Reported in North Korea John Zimmerlee -- expert and son of an aviator missing in Korea -- testified 10/31/13 to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (click here for more on the Commission). John's emotional testimony included points from his prepared remarks (below), but also answers to a number of questions from Commission Chairman Michael Kirby. John asked the UN to press the US National Archives to release thousands of documents involving the POW issue still kept classified. He also remarked that given reports of surviving American prisoners being allowed to marry North Korean women, he might have brothers or sisters in North Korea. John promised to provide additional information requested by the COI and thanked Chairman Kirby and Commissioner Biserko for their interest. 1) I am here to speak for almost 8,000 families across America whose loved ones never returned from North Korea after the Korean War. Many more families around the world are in the same situation: those still missing in North Korea include men from South Korea and many of the 17 nations fighting on the UN side during the war.

2) No other North Korean human rights issue has impacted the United States longer or more widely than the refusal of Pyongyang to resolve the fate of American prisoners reported alive in North Korea and to open its files and warehouse of human remains to account for our dead in that nation. 3) We want to thank the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for its work, especially because all of these missing men were fighting under the United Nations flag when we lost them. United Nations Resolution 906 called for the release of all captive UN troops, this has still not happened. 4) We know for a fact that North Korea held many of our loved ones alive and never returned them. For example, Gilbert Ashley and Hidemaro Ashley, along with three others in their crew, were confirmed alive after the armistice ending the Korean War was signed. United Nations commanders radioed radioed their captors saying North Korea could not deny holding these men and had to return them. That never happened. Their families continue to anguish over their fates. What happened to them? Could they still be alive. 5) This is Sam Logan. Not only did the North Koreans capture him, they allowed his picture to be published around the world. Pyongyang never released him or accounted for him. 6) In thousands of cases, our loved ones simply disappeared without a trace. 7) This is my father – Capt. John Henry Zimmerlee, who went missing somewhere in North Korea.



8) Over the years, escaping North Koreans have told us of surviving US POWs (along with British and perhaps other nationals) still alive in North Korea. For example, a former North Korean secret policeman told us he had seen 20 or more surviving US prisoners repeatedly during the 1980s and 1990s. They lived in a special area outside Pyongyang and he even shared a beer with some of them once. There are other credible reports. There is no doubt South Korean POWs are still alive – so why not Americans? North Korea needs to tell us who they are and allow them to see their families again. 9) We understand that many men simply cannot be found after a war. And many of our men died during the conflict as prisoners or on the battlefield. In the case of these men, we simply ask North Korea to follow basic humanitarian principles and share what they know with the families of the missing. Unfortunately, in most cases North Korea has so far refused. For example, we have found the ID cards of missing men displayed as war trophies in a North Korea museum – and North Korea will not account for those men. In addition, it has been proven that North Korea warehouses the remains of Americans lost in the Korean War. We ask North Korea to return those remains and provide the information from its files to help account for our missing. 10) Dear Commissioners: Families across the United States and world ask you to help shed light on the POW issue as part of your inquiry, and to hold North Korea accountable to international human rights laws and norms regarding our loved ones. Thank you very much for your work and the opportunity to speak for the families today.