ID :
56023
Fri, 04/17/2009 - 19:27
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/56023
The shortlink copeid
Civic groups urge N. Korea to set free S. Korean detainee
SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- A group of 30 anti-North Korea civic groups in Seoul
issued a statement on Friday, demanding the immediate release of a South Korean
worker detained by the communist North for nearly 20 days.
Pyongyang has been holding an employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., the developer of a
joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, since March 30,
accusing him of criticizing its political system and trying to tempt a North
Korean female worker to defect.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected the South Korean government's request for
access to the Hyundai Asan employee, identified only by his family name Yu. He is
believed to have been detained at a North Korean office in the Kaesong complex.
"North Korea has failed to announce any result of its probe into Yu and refused
to allow Seoul officials to contact him," said the statement signed by the
Citizen's Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Defectors and
other civic groups campaigning for the human rights of the North Korean people.
"The North's behavior clearly violates the existing inter-Korean accords."
According to the written agreement on the joint industrial complex concluded in
2004, North Korea is obliged to guarantee security and basic rights for South
Korean workers, including those under investigation by the North's authorities.
"The detention must have been politically motivated as North Korea intends to use
it as a means of applying pressure in inter-Korean dialogue. The act is worse
than illegal detention and tantamount to kidnapping of a South Korean citizen.
The North will surely face an international backlash," said the statement.
The civic groups also said that they will lodge a petition with Seoul's human
rights watchdog to demand an investigation into the communist regime's violations
of the South Korean people's human rights.
Tensions have been escalating on the Korean Peninsula after the North fired a
long-range rocket in early April and the United Nations Security Council
condemned the rocket launch earlier this week.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)
issued a statement on Friday, demanding the immediate release of a South Korean
worker detained by the communist North for nearly 20 days.
Pyongyang has been holding an employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., the developer of a
joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, since March 30,
accusing him of criticizing its political system and trying to tempt a North
Korean female worker to defect.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected the South Korean government's request for
access to the Hyundai Asan employee, identified only by his family name Yu. He is
believed to have been detained at a North Korean office in the Kaesong complex.
"North Korea has failed to announce any result of its probe into Yu and refused
to allow Seoul officials to contact him," said the statement signed by the
Citizen's Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Defectors and
other civic groups campaigning for the human rights of the North Korean people.
"The North's behavior clearly violates the existing inter-Korean accords."
According to the written agreement on the joint industrial complex concluded in
2004, North Korea is obliged to guarantee security and basic rights for South
Korean workers, including those under investigation by the North's authorities.
"The detention must have been politically motivated as North Korea intends to use
it as a means of applying pressure in inter-Korean dialogue. The act is worse
than illegal detention and tantamount to kidnapping of a South Korean citizen.
The North will surely face an international backlash," said the statement.
The civic groups also said that they will lodge a petition with Seoul's human
rights watchdog to demand an investigation into the communist regime's violations
of the South Korean people's human rights.
Tensions have been escalating on the Korean Peninsula after the North fired a
long-range rocket in early April and the United Nations Security Council
condemned the rocket launch earlier this week.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)
