ID :
52963
Mon, 03/30/2009 - 21:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/52963
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea detains S. Korean worker for criticizing Pyongyang
SEOUL, March 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is holding a South Korean worker for allegedly criticizing its political system and instigating a North Korean female worker to consider defection to the South, officials said Monday.
North Korea sent a fax message to South Korea at 11:50 a.m. on Monday, saying
that a South Korean worker at a joint industrial complex in its territory was put
under detention for "denouncing our political system," Unification Ministry
spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said.
According to another ministry official who requested anonymity, the North Korean
notice also said the worker "degenerated and spoiled our female employee to
instigate defection."
The officials declined to identify the name or the company of the detained
worker, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
But sources well-versed in the joint complex said he is an employee of Hyundai
Asan Corp., a unit of the South's Hyundai Group, which is in charge of
orchestrating South Korea's corporate investment in the joint venture in the
North Korean border town of Kaesong.
A total of 101 small garment and other labor-intensive South Korean firms are
currently operating at the South Korean-funded industrial complex in Kaesong,
just an hour's drive from Seoul, with 39,000 North Korean workers employed there.
The incident occurred amid persisting inter-Korean tension ahead of the North's
planned rocket launch slated for early April. The North claims that its rocket
launch is to put a communications satellite into orbit but many outside experts
suspect it is a cover for test-launching a long-range missile.
There have been several cases in which South Korean workers or managers were
investigated for allegedly violating North Korean law, but the latest case raised
concern as it comes amid frozen political relations and heightened tensions on
the peninsula.
In one case, a South Korean female tourist was held for five days in 1999 for
telling a North Korean guard in the Kumgang resort about the lives of North
Korean defectors in the South. Others were released after a brief investigation.
According to an inter-Korean accord governing the joint industrial complex, South
Koreans breaching North Korean law are suspended from work, investigated and may
be fined or expelled depending on the severity of their violations.
North Korea said in the message that it will "ensure the safety of the worker,"
the ministry spokesperson said.
The other ministry official said the worker is believed to have been detained
from his residence in the morning and was being questioned in the absence of a
lawyer.
The case comes as North Korea is also holding two U.S. journalists for entering
its territory through the country's shared border with China.
The Kaesong venture is the only major cross-border project that remains intact
between the two divided Koreas. Other visible projects, including tours to the
North's scenic Mount Kumgang and historic sites in Kaesong, an ancient Korean
capital, have all been suspended.
North Korea closed the border several times earlier this month in protest against
an annual U.S.-South Korean joint military exercise.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
North Korea sent a fax message to South Korea at 11:50 a.m. on Monday, saying
that a South Korean worker at a joint industrial complex in its territory was put
under detention for "denouncing our political system," Unification Ministry
spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said.
According to another ministry official who requested anonymity, the North Korean
notice also said the worker "degenerated and spoiled our female employee to
instigate defection."
The officials declined to identify the name or the company of the detained
worker, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
But sources well-versed in the joint complex said he is an employee of Hyundai
Asan Corp., a unit of the South's Hyundai Group, which is in charge of
orchestrating South Korea's corporate investment in the joint venture in the
North Korean border town of Kaesong.
A total of 101 small garment and other labor-intensive South Korean firms are
currently operating at the South Korean-funded industrial complex in Kaesong,
just an hour's drive from Seoul, with 39,000 North Korean workers employed there.
The incident occurred amid persisting inter-Korean tension ahead of the North's
planned rocket launch slated for early April. The North claims that its rocket
launch is to put a communications satellite into orbit but many outside experts
suspect it is a cover for test-launching a long-range missile.
There have been several cases in which South Korean workers or managers were
investigated for allegedly violating North Korean law, but the latest case raised
concern as it comes amid frozen political relations and heightened tensions on
the peninsula.
In one case, a South Korean female tourist was held for five days in 1999 for
telling a North Korean guard in the Kumgang resort about the lives of North
Korean defectors in the South. Others were released after a brief investigation.
According to an inter-Korean accord governing the joint industrial complex, South
Koreans breaching North Korean law are suspended from work, investigated and may
be fined or expelled depending on the severity of their violations.
North Korea said in the message that it will "ensure the safety of the worker,"
the ministry spokesperson said.
The other ministry official said the worker is believed to have been detained
from his residence in the morning and was being questioned in the absence of a
lawyer.
The case comes as North Korea is also holding two U.S. journalists for entering
its territory through the country's shared border with China.
The Kaesong venture is the only major cross-border project that remains intact
between the two divided Koreas. Other visible projects, including tours to the
North's scenic Mount Kumgang and historic sites in Kaesong, an ancient Korean
capital, have all been suspended.
North Korea closed the border several times earlier this month in protest against
an annual U.S.-South Korean joint military exercise.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
