Thai family’s 42-year struggle to bring home daughter abducted by North Korea

 

Anocha Panchoi (left) and a picture of Charles Jenkins’ family taken on a beach in North Korea shows the woman believed to be Anocha.

 

Another year is ending with fading hope of a Thai family in Chiang Mai in getting back its daughter abducted by North Korea 42 years ago.

 

Anocha Panchoi, a native of San Kamphaeng district of Chiang Mai, was 23 when she disappeared in 1978. She was working in Macau and was on her way to having a haircut when she was abducted.

 

Anocha’s fate was once again highlighted in a news report by NHK of Japan last week following a memorial service by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the father of one of the Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korea. It noted that according to a UN report, Japan is just one of eleven countries that were targeted by the North’s abduction activity.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-familys-42-year-struggle-to-bring-home-daughter-abducted-by-north-korea/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-12-28

 

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 Very sad 

I was under the impression she had married an American defector and passed away a few years ago.

Anyone know why she was abducted?  I can understand abducting Japanese & South Koreans to teach language, slang & accents to their spies, but why a Thai?

53 minutes ago, Iron Tongue said:

Anyone know why she was abducted?  I can understand abducting Japanese & South Koreans to teach language, slang & accents to their spies, but why a Thai?

According to Charles Robert Jenkins, whose book (The Reluctant Communist) tells of the abduction as told to him by Panjoy, Panjoy agreed to take a man claiming to be a Japanese tourist on a guided boat tour. On a nearby beach, she was ambushed and forced onto the boat, before being taken to North Korea...

Shortly after her arrival in Pyongyang, Panjoy met and married U.S. defector Larry Allen Abshier. In 1980 Panjoy and her husband moved into an apartment near Jenkins and his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga, herself an abductee. Panjoy became close with the family. Abshier died in 1983.

Panjoy continued to live close to the Jenkins family until 1989, when she married an East German businessman who worked for the government. Soga and Jenkins last saw Panjoy in 1989, shortly before her second wedding.

Jenkins stated that when he met Panjoy, she wished to return to Thailand and reunite with her family.

 

Does not answer your question, but interesting...

Surreal and so very sad.

4 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

Anyone know why she was abducted?  I can understand abducting Japanese & South Koreans to teach language, slang & accents to their spies, but why a Thai?

The oldest profession in the world maybe?

7 hours ago, milesinnz said:

According to Charles Robert Jenkins, whose book (The Reluctant Communist) tells of the abduction as told to him by Panjoy, Panjoy agreed to take a man claiming to be a Japanese tourist on a guided boat tour. On a nearby beach, she was ambushed and forced onto the boat, before being taken to North Korea...

Shortly after her arrival in Pyongyang, Panjoy met and married U.S. defector Larry Allen Abshier. In 1980 Panjoy and her husband moved into an apartment near Jenkins and his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga, herself an abductee. Panjoy became close with the family. Abshier died in 1983.

Panjoy continued to live close to the Jenkins family until 1989, when she married an East German businessman who worked for the government. Soga and Jenkins last saw Panjoy in 1989, shortly before her second wedding.

Jenkins stated that when he met Panjoy, she wished to return to Thailand and reunite with her family.

 

Does not answer your question, but interesting

This story may contain the answer.  She was abducted to provide a wife to defectors and other "friends" of Pyongyong.  No North Korean would ever think of marrying a foreigner, let alone dare to. 

A tragic story that I have followed over the past 15 or so years.  What is more tragic is the Thai government reaction and deliberate inaction over the past 42 years so as not to harm trade with North Korea.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

On 12/28/2020 at 9:49 AM, webfact said:

Thai family’s 42-year struggle to bring home daughter abducted by North Korea

 

Anocha Panchoi (left) and a picture of Charles Jenkins’ family taken on a beach in North Korea shows the woman believed to be Anocha.

 

Another year is ending with fading hope of a Thai family in Chiang Mai in getting back its daughter abducted by North Korea 42 years ago.

 

Anocha Panchoi, a native of San Kamphaeng district of Chiang Mai, was 23 when she disappeared in 1978. She was working in Macau and was on her way to having a haircut when she was abducted.

 

Anocha’s fate was once again highlighted in a news report by NHK of Japan last week following a memorial service by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the father of one of the Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korea. It noted that according to a UN report, Japan is just one of eleven countries that were targeted by the North’s abduction activity.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-familys-42-year-struggle-to-bring-home-daughter-abducted-by-north-korea/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-12-28

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Shocking!   and confusing...   what a poor country wants with another mouth to feed?  must be forced labour of something.. my prayers go out for them...... lets give them some thoughts...