The Korean War prisoners who never came home

When the Korean War ended in 1953, about 50,000 South Korean prisoners of war were kept in the North. Many were forced into labouring jobs against their will. Some were killed. Now their children are fighting for recognition, writes BBC Korea's Subin Kim.

No matter how hard she tries, Lee cannot recall what happened after three shots were fired by the executioners who killed her father and brother. It was three decades ago, when Lee was in her thirties.

She does remember what happened just before. Security officers had dragged her to a stadium in a remote village in North Korea called Aoji. She was forced to sit under a wooden bridge, waiting for something - she knew not what - to happen.

A crowd swelled and a truck pulled up, and two people were escorted off the truck. It was her father and brother.

"They tied them to stakes, calling them traitors of the nation, spies and reactionaries," Lee told the BBC in an interview recently. That's the moment her memory falters. "I think I was screaming," she said. "My jaw was dislocated. A neighbour took me home to fix my jaw."