North Korea has always denied that it kept any prisoners after the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953. But a 72 year old South Korean just escaped from North Korea and reported that he was one of thousands of POWs who were held in the north after 1953. So far this year, 319 North Koreans have managed to escape to the south, versus 312 for all of last year. It is estimated that thousands more are escaping to China.
