Another South Korean POW Escapes North Korea - From Reuters "SEOUL, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A South Korean prisoner of war escaped from North Korea and returned to his wife and children on Wednesday 45 years after the war which tore them apart had ended in a ceasefire, the South's top intelligence agency said."

"The Agency for National Security Planning (NSP) said in a statement 72-year-old Chang Mu-hwan returned to South Korea's Inchon Port, west of Seoul, aboard a ferry after seeking refuge in a third nation for more than a month. Chang was being held by the agency for further questioning, the NSP said."

"A defense ministry official said Chang escaped from North Korea in August by crossing the Tumen River on the border between North Korea and China. Chang was taken prisoner by North Korean communist forces in 1953 shortly before the ceasefire that ended the Korean War, the official said. Local media reports said Chang was taken to a prisoner of war camp at a coal mine in North Korea where he was forced into slave labour for 45 years."

"South Korea's defense ministry had listed Chang among the tens of thousands who were killed in action during the war. Chang's wife and children are currently living in Ulchin, South Korea, local media reported. "Of course we're happy. Our whole family are happy," Chang's wife was heard as saying in a telephone interview with state-run Korea Broadcasting System television."

"In April, fellow war prisoner Yang Soon-yong, 72, who also escaped North Korea last year, said he knew of 50 to 60 South Korea POWs still surviving in the North. The defense ministry has said some 20,000 South Korean soldiers were missing during the Korean War and there should be some survivors."

We've said it before and we will say it again - If the North Koreans continue to hold South Korean POWs, there is no reason not to believe they are holding United Nations Command personnel, including American Servicemen.

Speaking of holding POWs - Let's look at some more "Real Time" Intelligence and its analysis. On March 30th, 1973 the Central Intelligence Agency issued a report. Its subject "Sighting of a group of Eight U.S. Prisoners of War in Ba To District, Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam." The heavily redacted report describes the sources sighting of 8 POWs "escorted by four armed Viet Cong (VC) soldiers..."

According to the source, "...Two were Negroes and the others were Caucasians. The oldest looking man in the group was a Negro, who appeared to be about 34 years old. [REDACTED] was unable to identify any of the POW's from the album of photographs of missing and captured personnel in SEA."

The report concluded "The following is the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) evaluation of the report: JCRC records indicate this report possibly describes sighting of 1st Sergeant Edward Guillroy, U.S. Army. The age description of a Negro about 34 years old fits Guillory. Guillory was missing in action 8 June 1967 in the vicinity of BS310110 near the location of this reported sighting (BS659389). Additionally COMUSMACV (CMIC) IR6029107171, dated 19 November 1971 contains information identifying Guillory alive and in Laos in June 1970."

The remaining 1 1/2 pages of the report are blacked out.

There is one glaring discrepancy in this report. The source put the sighting "as the fourth day of the first month by the Lunar calendar." According to the report "this would make the date about mid February 1967 on the Gregorian calendar. Sgt. Guillroy went missing on June 18th, 1967. The CIA report incorrectly lists the date as June 8th.

In spite of this discrepancy, JCRC correlated the report to Sgt. Guillroy based on physical description, and location of the sighting vs. original loss location. They also seemed to give great weight to the COMUSMACV report of November 19, 1971.

What did that November 19th, 1971 report say. From the Summary: "this report contains information concerning the sighting of 10 US PW observed by Source as the PW were being prepared for transportation across the TCHEPONE River, Laos. Of significance in this report is information concerning the possible identification of two of the US PW."

The report provides detailed information about the source. - "During late 1955, Source departed Cambodia with the VIET MINH and arrived in NVN on an undetermined date. In 1956 he was discharged from the NVA "and attended a course in the Vietnamese language at the NHAN KY THUAT Technical School, Haiphong Province, NVN. In 1960, source was recalled to the NVA and sent to attend a course at an officer academy in SON TAY District, Ha BAC Province, NVN. After completing this course, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and reassigned to QUANG BINH Province, NVN, to train aspirants at an undetermined basic training camp. From Mar 67 to Mar 70 Source was a student at the VINH PHU Province Military Academy, VINH PHU Province NVN. After completing the course he was promoted to the rank of captain, and given a leave of absence in VINH PHU Province, NVN. During Apr 70, Source was ordered to resign his commission and to be repatriated to CAMBODIA. He traveled through LAOS with a group of 40 personnel, arriving in CAMBODIA on 29 Sep. 70. The purpose of his repatriation was so that he could fight with the KHMER ROUGE. Upon his arrival in CAMBODIA, Source was assigned to MR-304. He remains with this KHMER ROUGE Infrastructure until he rallied on 7 Sep 71."

So, who and what did the source see? According to the report "In Jun 70, Source saw approximately 10 US PW embarking on motorized canoes he had just disembarked as part of a river crossing he made in conjunction with his infiltration to CAMBODIA from NVN. One of the PW asked Source for a cigarette in sign language."

"Source was unable to provide a physical description of any of the US PW. He observed the US PW for approximately 10 minutes while the PW were resting in a jungle area along the west bank of the TCHEPONE River. Source was able to provide a photo identification of two US PW that he saw."

"Source was able to identify two photos in the MACV/JPRC US PW Photo Identification catalogue. Source stated that the man who ask him for a cigarette appeared very much like PFC E3 MARSHALL F KIPINA, US Army. The US PW standing close to (exact distance undetermined) PFC KIPINA was identified as 1SG E8 EDWARD J. GUILLORY, US Army."

What did the U.S. interrogator have to say about this source? - "Source is of above average intelligence. He was cooperative and appeared sincere throughout the interrogation. Source's response to control questions revealed no attempt at deception..."

We find no record of remains returned for either Sgt. Guillroy or Pvt. Kipina.

Air Conditioned Analysis - We don't have any subsequent analysis reports relating to these two sightings. However, we are willing to bet any evaluations done on these reports after, 1974, would say that both sources are either fabricators or the reports correlate to returnees. We'd love to see the analysis of these reports.

FYI - A day earlier the Cambodia source provided information on a POW he saw at the Pho Ba Dinh Market Place, Hanoi City, NVN in late 1969. Source saw the same POW in a film in April 1970, while at the Vinh Phu Province Military Academy. The title of the film in Vietnamese was "AO NGU" translated as "Sleeping Dress." Could "Sleeping Dress" be the famous film "Pilots in Pajamas" or is it another film? If it is a different film, has it been made available to U.S. investigators.?

According to the Air Conditioned Analysts, all POWs in "Pilots in Pajamas" are returnees. So what happened to the POW identified by the source in the film "Sleeping Dress." If anyone has information on the film "Sleeping Dress" or its possible relationship to "Pilots in Pajamas" please let us know.

Korean War Peace Talks Resume in Geneve on October 21st - As with previous talks, the subject of Prisoner of War and Missing In Action is a low priority.. In a press release dated October 1st 1998, the National Alliance of Families stated: "...When the next round of Korean War Peace Talks resume in Geneva, on October 21st, 1998, the repatriation of our prisoners of war must be included in the negotiations. Any peace treaty negotiated in Geneva must include the repatriations of all POWs. This point must be non-negotiable. There can be no true peace without the repatriation of live POWs on all sides..."

To this end:

We call upon the Chinese and North Korean governments to commit to the release of all United Nations Personnel captured during the Korean War, including American and South Korean personnel.

We call upon the South Korean government to commit to the release of all North Korean and Chinese personnel, captured during the Korean War.

We call upon the United States government to see that known POWs such as Richard Desautels, Roger Dumas, Gilbert Ashley, John Shaddick, Arthur Olsen, Harold Turner, Harold Beardall, Hidemaro Ishida, Kassel Keene, and the 900+ POW's like them are returned or accounted for.

Truly successful Peace Talks must include a repatriation of Live POWs, on all sides. In the past, the North Koreans indicated a willingness to negotiation for live POWs. It is time for the United States to acknowledge and act upon that offer.

It is up to U.S. negotiators to bring the release and exchange of Prisoners to the negotiating table. If the United States government shows a willingness to negotiate, without recriminations, Prisoners of War on all sides will be released.

The United States government must take a vocal and public stance on this issue. Prisoners of War and the Missing in Action must be a focal point of these negotiations.

We can not allow another peace negotiation to sell out and further abandon America's servicemen. Nor, can we allow the perceived embarrassment of one nation or another to further imprison servicemen on both sides.

Contact Ken Bayless, Asst. Secretary of State for East Asian Pacific Affairs. Call and/or fax him at tel: 202-647-9596 fax: 202-647-7350. Demand POWs be a major part of peace negotiations.

Servicemen Accounted for - The Pentagon Announced the Accounting of - Major Woodrow W. Parker II, USAF and his aircraft Commander Bobby Vinson. Their F-4D was lost over Quang Binh, North Vietnam on April 24, 1968.

According to the DoD Memorandum for Correspondents "In April 1992, a joint U.S.-Vietnam team, led by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, interviewed several local informants in a village near the location of the loss. Three informants turned over human remains and survival-related items that had been collected at the crash site years earlier. In July of 1992, a second joint U.S.-Vietnam team returned to the site and recovered aircraft wreckage and crew-related equipment. A third joint team excavated the crash site during Aug.-Sept. 1993 and recovered aircraft wreckage, life support equipment and several skeletal fragments."

Althought the Parker family is quoted in an Associated Press Article as stating this is an mt-DNA identification, no mention of the use of mt-dna was made in the DoD release.

Why does Johnnie Webb still have a job????

North Korea Repartiates Remains - From Reuters - " PANMUNJOM, Korea, Oct 9 - North Korea on Friday handed over the remains of what are believed to be five U.S. soldiers killed nearly a half-century ago during the Korea War. North Korean soldiers handed over five aluminum caskets containing the remains to their counterparts from the United Nations Forces across the Line of Demarcation in the U.N. truce village of Panmunjom...."

"...Washington has said that recovering the U.S. war dead from the 1950-53 conflict is a key factor in improving ties between North Korea and the United States.... The war ended in a now fraying truce. Without a peace treaty, the Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war and one of the world's most militarized places."

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