South Korea will provide around $12,000 in compensation to the family of a North Korean defector-journalist held by the Kim regime for nearly a decade, officially recognizing him as an abductee for the first time.

A committee under Seoul’s Unification Ministry announced at a meeting on Thursday that it has approved a consolation payment of about 19 million won (US$12,316) to the family of former Daily NK reporter Ham Jin-woo.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration “will listen to the suffering caused by national division and continue to seek solutions through inter-Korean dialogue and international cooperation, aiming to help