A/HRC/22/57 questions relating to the abduction of foreigners in the form of enforced disappearance.” 135 From 2006 onwards the General Assembly qualified these abductions noting that they violated “the human rights of the nationals of other sovereign countries.” 136 111. The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) was the first United Nations mechanism to address the issue of abduction of foreigners by the Government of the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea, in particular cases of Japanese and Korean nationals. In total the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has transmitted twelve cases to the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea, all of which remain outstanding. 137 In addition to eight cases of disappeared Japanese nationals abducted in the 1970s and 1980s, another case of disappearance of a female national of the Republic of Korea on the border between China and the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea was reported to have occurred in 2004. The remaining three cases were received by the WGEID during its November 2010-2011 reporting period and concern Korean nationals who allegedly disappeared on December 1969 after their Korean Airlines flight YS-11 was hijacked and diverted to Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea.138 112. Regarding the cases of abduction of Japanese nationals, the government of the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea responded to the WGEID by stating that it “had already provided the Government of Japan with detailed information on those persons.” 139 In regards to the female national of South Korea, the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea stated that after conducting an investigation into the matter, they had found that “neither that incident nor any similar act had occurred in the border area.” 140 The WGEID responded that, because of unsatisfactory reports from the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea, these cases would remain outstanding and hoped that the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea would clarify them. 141 113. The greatest number of enforced disappearances possibly happened during and after the Korean War, which took place from 1950-1953. In his 2011 report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur noted that the exact number of persons from the Republic of Korea by the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea during the Korean War is not known.142 However he noted that in March 2002, the Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU) began compiling the existing “List of Korean War Abducted Persons.” The list contains around 94,700 names of people abducted. As the Special Rapporteur noted in his report, “some 80.3 per cent of those abducted were either taken away from their home or near their homes, which indicates that these abductions were “carried out intentionally and in an organized manner”.143 114. The Special Rapporteur noted that since the war, 3,824 people have been reportedly abducted from the Republic of Korea, of which 3,310 have been returned after having been held for 6 months to a year. He has gathered information that an estimated 500 civilians abducted and 500 prisoners of war are currently being detained in the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea, which denies the existence of such abductees. Countries such as Japan, Lebanon, and Thailand have reported such abductions. The Special Rapporteur noted that 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 A/RES/60/173, para 1(b)(v) A/RES/61/174, para 1(b)(v) A/64/319, para 20 A/HRC/19/58/Rev.1, paras 143-146 A/62/318, para 18 A/62/318, para 18 A/62/318, para 20 A/HRC/16/58, paras 18-25 A/HRC/16/58, para 19 33