Korea and China plan to hold a working-level meeting next week to discuss diverse consular issues including a Korean activist who was allegedly tortured by Chinese agents earlier this year, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.
Kim Young-hwan claimed he was tortured by Chinese security agents, including beatings, electric shocks and sleep deprivation during the first month of his 114-day detention, after being arrested in March for helping North Korean defectors there.
While China has denied the allegations, Seoul's foreign ministry has pressed it to investigate Kim's claim. The activist and his supporters have urged Beijing to punish security agents connected to the allegations and allow international bodies to launch a joint investigation if necessary.
During the meeting set to take place in Beijing on Sept. 5, Seoul will "request Beijing to inspect whether he was treated harshly and seek answers," Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters.
The scheduled meeting to be attended by Ahn Young-jip, director-general of the consular affairs department in South Korea's foreign ministry, and his Chinese counterpart Huang Ping, marks the first meeting between the heads of the two countries' consular affairs bureaus since the incident.
The issue of North Korean defectors hiding in China seeking asylum in Korea and other countries will also be on the table, according to ministry sources.
Regarding the defectors as "economic immigrants" rather than refugees, China typically sends them back to their homeland despite fears that they could face harsh punishment and even execution, a policy Seoul has called on China to end.
Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, as a constant stream reportedly crosses the porous border into the neighboring country to avoid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression.
During the meeting, China is also expected to ask South Korea to repatriate the 38-year-old Chinese man surnamed Liu indicted here last January on charges of attacking the Japanese Embassy in Seoul out of anger he said was triggered by Japan's inaction on its sexual enslavement of Asian women during World War II, according to the sources.
"As a regular meeting, this consular meeting will serve as a venue for the two sides to discuss diverse pending issues of mutual concern," the ministry said in a statement. (Yonhap)