By Kang Hyun-kyung
Supporters for four Korean activists held by China are considering asking President Lee Myung-bak to step in to help free them, an activist group said Sunday.
“We may either try to meet President Lee or launch a petition asking him to intervene for Kim Young-hwan and his three colleagues,” said Han Ki-hong, president of the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights during a telephone interview.
Han added that they are trying to find the best way to get Lee involved but nothing has been decided yet.
Kim, a human rights activist fighting for democracy in North Korea, has worked with the non-profit group as a senior researcher since the late 1990s.
The four have been detained by Chinese authorities for two months for a claimed breach of national security. They have been denied access to lawyers and granted no visitation by family members.
Despite growing public concern, the President has kept the case at arm’s length without officially mentioning it.
Members from the non-profit group met Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan two weeks ago to urge him to launch diplomatic efforts to build pressure on China to release the four.
They also brought the case to the United Nations by submitting petitions to its Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment as well as its special rapporteur on torture.
On Friday, Ahn Ho-young, first vice foreign minister, urged Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xinsen to allow the South Koreans to have consular and lawyer access.
During the closed-door meeting at the foreign ministry, Ahn was quoted as requesting the Chinese government to inform South Korea how the four activists violated local law in detail.
Kim and the three others are being held on suspicions of “espionage and being a threat to national security.” The Chinese state security ministry refused to give details of their alleged violations of the law. Local human rights activists, however, claim there is no reason for Kim to do something against the Chinese government as the 49-year-old supported Beijing’s economic reforms, calling him a pro-China figure.
The Chinese authorities allowed Kim to have consular access just once in April but he has been denied access to a lawyer. The three other South Koreans allegedly signed a letter giving up consular access, according to the Chinese state security ministry.
During the meeting with the Chinese ambassador, Ahn urged the Chinese government to ask the three Koreans if there has been any change in their minds regarding consular access.
Chinese ambassador Zhang was quoted as saying that he understood the foreign ministry’s position and he would report to his government regarding the meeting’s results.