Andrei Lankov on Abduction History

Andrei Lankov explores the history of North Korean abductions. Unlike other countries whose agents usually kidnap someone of importance, North Korean abductions seem random and target ordinary people. Abductees were mainly used to train North Korean agents on how to mix in South Korean and Japanese society. Younger abductees were considered still easy to indoctrinate.

I would like to add that by kidnapping ordinary people, North Korea may be trying to create a climate of fear in the two countries. Though with many abductions were revealed many years after the fact, I doubt that they were very successful.

Now most abductions occur in Northeast China, where most refugees hide.