I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Former president joins 'Save Kim' campaign
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Former President Kim Young-sam, ex-National Assembly Speaker Park Gwan-yong, lawmaker-elect Ha Tae-kyung of the ruling Saenuri Party, and about 100 other dignitaries signed on to a campaign to support four detained South Korean activists, Tuesday.
The Committee for the Release of Kim Young-hwan, a North Korea human rights activist and one of the four detainees, hosted a news conference in downtown Seoul.
Kim and the three other have been in detention for close to two months on suspicion of “espionage and being a threat to national security.”
During the conference, Hong Sun-kyeong, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in the early 2000s, urged China to live up to its commitments to be a responsible state.
Hong alleged China violated human rights and didn’t respect relations with South Korea, considering how it has treated the detainees.
Meanwhile, Choi Seong-ryong, president of the Abductee Family Association, called on the government to put more pressure on China to obtain the release of the four.
Choi argued first of all the administration needs to negotiate with China to bring Kim and the three others to Beijing from Dandong where they are now detained.
“Beijing is a lot safer than Dandong as the latter is under the influence of Pyongyang as there are many North Korean officials there due to the geographical vicinity,” he said. “If they are taken to the capital city, negotiations will be easier because the Chinese central government will handle the issue. The Dalian branch of the state security ministry is suspected of having links with the North.”
The activists unveiled the details of a petition to be submitted to the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment, as well as its special rapporteur on torture.
Choi Hong-jae, the spokesman for the committee, said the detained Kim was very supportive of the Chinese government’s policies and therefore he had no reason to do anything against the country’s national security.
“Considering this, we believe the Chinese government’s detention of Kim and three other activists constitute arbitrary imprisonment,” he said.
“We also suspect that three other South Koreans might have undergone torture, given their written statements that they would give up a consular access,” he said.
The Chinese authorities claimed the three voluntarily signed the letter, which Choi said was hard to believe considering how the Chinese authorities reacted to the South Korean consul afterwards.
The advocacy spokesman said the Chinese authorities rejected the official’s request that they allow him to speak with the three detainees to make sure if their giving up of a access was voluntarily.
“Considering this, it is questionable if the letters were written of their own will,” Choi said.
The three have been denied consular access.
Human rights activists here claimed China’s central government may not have been involved in the detention of the four, raising suspicions that the Liaoning Province branch of the state security ministry has held them in collaboration with the North Korean authorities.