By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea has been seeking international cooperation for the release of a South Korean worker detained in North Korea for nearly a month, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan said Thursday.
Yu also said that President Lee Myung-bak will visit the United States at the invitation of U.S. President Barack Obama on June 16.
``The government is preparing for the Lee-Obama summit to discuss ways of strengthening the alliance between the two countries and other pending issues,'' he told reporters.
The government is considering taking the issue of the detainee to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, Yu said.
``Despite 24 days of detention, no explanation has yet to be given,'' he said. ``It may be more rational for South and North Korea to solve this issue but I think that international efforts could also be helpful. We're carefully reviewing that possibility.''
On March 30, the employee, identified only by his family name, Yoo, was detained by North Korean authorities in the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong on charges of criticizing the North's political system and enticing a female worker to defect to the South.
The North has refused to allow South Korean officials and lawyers to meet the 40-year-old, despite repeated requests from the South.
Minister Yu also hinted that additional discussions on North Korea-related issues could be undertaken with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who is scheduled to arrive in Seoul Friday after visiting Pyongyang.
``I closely consulted with Russian officials after the North fired a rocket. Since it is a member of the six-party talks, I also discussed the detainee issue as well as the nuclear problems,'' he said.
The minister called on the North to return to the denuclearization talks.
``I expressed serious concern that North Korea is damaging all the achievements gained from the six-party talks. The North must immediately return to the disarmament table,'' he stressed.
After the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a statement to condemn the North's firing of the long-range rocket April 5, the Stalinist state threatened to boycott the talks and restart its nuclear program.
It also kicked International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out of its nuclear plant in Yongbyon in retaliation for the condemnation.