Six South Korean citizens still detained in North Korea
The detainees include, from left, Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-kie, Choi Chun-kil and Ko Hyon-chol. Korea Times file
By Jung Da-min
Six South Koreans remain in North Korean detention despite government efforts to negotiate their release. A new campaign is under way to free them.
Three of the detainees are Christian missionaries ― Kim Jung-wook, who was arrested in October 2013, Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-kil, who have been held since 2014. The other three are North Korean defectors who had South Korean citizenship.
While the plight of the six has received little public attention, a petition for their release is again on the Cheong Wa Dae website.
"The last petition has been dismissed as too few people joined," Yoo Ki-sung, pastor of the Good Shepherd Church in Korea, said recently. "Family members (of the detainees) are praying in tears, so join our Cheong Wa Dae petition."
Kim Jung-wook had been running up to three shelters in Dandong, China, since 2007 for defectors and North Koreans visiting China. Kim Kook-kie ran a shelter in Dandong for defectors, Korean-Chinese and Kotjebi (begging children) since 2003.
Little is known about Choi, only that he is a South Korean missionary who had served in China.
While North Korea has not responded on the issue, the country's religious freedom has long remained a concern for the international community.
North Korea was recently designated a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for the 18th consecutive year, the U.S. Department of State said Tuesday.
In April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2018 annual report, in which it accused the North Korean regime of treating religion as a threat, particularly faiths associated with the West, such as Christianity. The USCIRF recommended the State Department designate North Korea as a CPC.
In September, North Korea was one of 19 countries accused of "severe violations” of religious freedom among 34 examined by the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance.
“Article 68 of the North Korean constitution enshrines a 'right of religion,' but in practice the government systematically suppresses this right through the enforcement of devotion to the ruling Kim family, adherence to the state's Juche ideology, and through severe penalties for those found to be practicing a religion or belief outside of state control,” the group said in the annex of its 2017 annual report.
“Due to the nature of the North Korean regime, it is difficult to receive and confirm timely reports about religious persecution from the country, but there is little indication that the situation has improved in recent years.”