ROK and Inter-Korean relations
December 2004
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North says defector has come from South
December 30, 2004 ? The U.S. 8th Army confirmed
yesterday that a South Korean, Kim Ki-ho, 59,
who North Korea on Tuesday said had defected to
the North, worked at the U.S. 6th Ordnance
Battalion from 1984 to 2003 as a quality
assurance specialist.
A South Korean intelligence official said the
North provided detailed background information
on defectors to provide credibility to their
claims. North Korea cited Mr. Kim's work records
and personal information such as birth place to
back its statement.
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S. Korean Defects to North
Pyongyang, December 29 (KCNA) -- A south Korean
Kim Ki Ho, who was serving as head of the
inspection section under the 6th ordnance
battalion of the U.S. 8th Army Command in south
Korea, defected to the northern half of Korea
shortly ago when southerners' yearning for the
man-centered Korean-style socialism was growing
more fervent
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New Year Won't Bring North Korean Capitulation: Experts
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu
Staff Reporters
When intelligence officials in Seoul detected a suspicious mushroom-shaped
cloud over North Korea's Ryanggang Province on Sept. 9, many observers
predicted a storm was brewing.
Over the following week, all sorts of theories were thrown around to explain
the phenomenon, from a nuclear test or failed missile launch to
anti-establishment insurgency or an explosion at an underground weapons bunker.
Finally, however, after days spent gazing at satellite photos, South Korean
officials concluded that the cloud was indeed, just that, a cloud.
This was the story of 2004 for North Korea: rampant rumors but little tangible
evidence of change.
Specifically, the past 12 months has seen the revival of speculation that the
communist state is on the verge of collapse. Pressured from all sides to give
up its nuclear programs, struggling for stability as economic reforms take hold
and targeted by U.S. human rights legislation, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
must surely be on his way out, the argument goes.
But if Kim were to sit down this evening to think through his New Year's
resolutions for 2005, experts in Seoul believe he would not be planning a
dramatic policy reversal or capitulation.
[Collapse]
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Majority Support Seoul's Policies on Pyongyang
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Five out of 10 South Koreans think the government is doing well in its North
Korea policies and six out of 10 have intentions to buy goods made in Kaesong,
a joint industrial park just above the demilitarized zone, the Unification
Ministry said Thursday, citing a recently conducted survey.
Fifty percent of 1,500 people over 20 years old, who answered the telephone
survey from Dec. 22 to 23, approved the government's North Korea policies, up
15.6 percent from a previous survey conducted in February.
``People are putting their credence on the government's economic cooperation
policies with the North, including the construction of the Kaesong Industrial
Complex, even though the cross-border government-level talks have been stalled
and the six-nation nuclear talks are not showing progress,'' the ministry said
in a press release.
Those critical of the government's North Korea policies have been reduced from
57.2 percent in February to 42.6 percent in December.
On the products made in Kaesong, where two South Korean companies are currently
making goods by using the North's cheap manpower, 64.2 percent of respondents
said they are willing to buy them, while 34.2 percent said they will not spend
their money on North Korean products.
[SK attitude NK]
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North lashes South over talks stalemate
December 29, 2004 ? Blaming the Roh
administration for frozen inter-Korean
relations, North Korea demanded an apology
yesterday from South Korea for creating the
current stalemate.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of
the Fatherland, a North Korean body handling
propaganda affairs, issued a statement
summarizing relations with the Roh
administration. The committee claimed that the
South has pursued anti-unification activities
over the past two years.
It singled out the Unification Ministry's
decision in July not to allow South Korean
visitors to commemorate the 10-year anniversary
of the death of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the
communist country.
Despite the political freeze, inter-Korean
economic projects and South Korea's shipment of
aid have continued.
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Roh Replaces Chief Police Officer, Deputy
Directors of NIS
By Shim Jae-yun
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun on Wednesday promoted Huh
Joon-young, head of the Seoul Metropolitan
Police Agency, to head the National Police
Agency (NPA), Chong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Jong-
min said.
Choi Joon-take, who had long served at the NIS,
will assume the post of third deputy director
for North Korean issues.
Chong Wa Dae officials said the replacement of
the key NIS officials shows Roh's firm
determination to focus on finding breakthrough
and peaceful resolution of the continuing
impasse over North Korea's nuclear drive.
``Given Suh and Cho are well acquainted with
foreign affairs and security issues, they are
expected play key roles in smoothly dealing with
North Korean issues, in particular,'' an
official said.
Suh served as deputy chief of South Korea's
permanent mission to the United Nations in New
York, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry and
director general of the ministry's Bureau for
International Organizations.
Choi has been regarded as an expert in North
Korea affairs as he has dealt with the matter
over the past 30 years.
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Roh welcomes summit any time, any place
December 27, 2004 ? President Roh Moo-hyun said
yesterday that he hopes for a second summit
between North and South Korea, and senior
government officials seemed to be suggesting
that one could take place next year.
"If an inter-Korean summit is possible, I would
accept it regardless of time and place," Mr. Roh
said in an interview with Kyung Hyang Shinmun, a
daily newspaper. "If possible, I would like to
promote the summit."
Previously, Mr. Roh had said he thought such a
summit would be impossible while the six-party
talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear
standoff were still underway.
A senior government official who asked for
anonymity said yesterday, "I think what Mr. Roh
said meant that if some visible results occur
from the six-party talks in the first half of
2005, there will be a possibility to promote a
second inter-Korean summit that year,
celebrating the five-year anniversary of the
June 15 inter-Korean summit."
"I think now the United States will make a more
flexible effort to solve the North Korean
nuclear problem," said Kwon Chin-ho, President
Roh's advisor for national security. "Something
good will take place next year."
[Friction]
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Roh Ready to Meet NK Leader Anytime, Anywhere
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun expressed his willingness
to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in
a summit ``anytime, anywhere,'' if only it was
possible.
``I'm not reluctant to have a summit. I just
said I think that it is unlikely,'' he said in
an interview with the KyungHyang Shinmun, a
local newspaper, released in its Monday edition.
``If it was possible, I would not care about the
timing or venue.''
Roh once again stressed South Korea's ``leading
role'' in the six-party nuclear talks aimed at
finding a peaceful resolution to the North
Korean nuclear standoff, calling it a problem
which involves ``our vital interests.''
``If it is so vital to us, we should be able to
affect North Korea's decision as well as the
United States','' he said. ``We cannot simply be
onlookers.''
[Friction]
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Pyongyang Denies Invasion Plan
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
In an unusual move, North Korean leader Kim Jong-
il has denied any plan to invade the South and
instead claims it is South Korea which is
plotting to invade the North, a North Korean
report said Saturday.
``Great Leader Kim Jong-il said there is
groundless speculation in South Korea about a
southward invasion threat by North Korea and
that the real threat exists in a northward
invasion by South Korea,'' Radio Pyongyang
reported.
Although North Korea often hinted at the
possibility of a northern invasion and rebuffed
suggestions of a southern invasion, such remarks
have rarely come directly from Kim's mouth.
The state-run broadcaster aired Kim's remarks in
a commentary, denouncing the South's plan to
increase its self-reliant defense capabilities.
But it did not provide any background, including
when and where Kim made the comments.
Radio Pyongyang further claimed the South's plan
to develop its self-defense posture came as part
of its plan to prepare for a war against the
North in alliance with the United States.
[military balance]
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Seoul to Monitor Brokers Hired to Aid North
Korean Defectors
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 26, 2004
EOUL, South Korea, Dec. 25 (AP) - South Korea
says it plans to crack down on people who demand
money for organizing mass defections of North
Koreans desperate to leave their country.
But human rights groups worry that the move is
aimed at appeasing North Korea and China - North
Korea's last major ally and the way-station for
many North Korean intending to defect.
These so-called brokers - often ethnic Koreans
in China, South Korean entrepreneurs or North
Korean defectors in the South - select defectors
from the tens of thousands of North Koreans who
flee North Korea and hide in northeastern China.
They then help the North Koreans to force their
way into foreign embassies in Beijing and other
Asian capitals, in the hopes that they will
eventually be allowed to travel to South Korea.
Nearly 83 percent of the 1,850 North Koreans who
reached South Korea this year came with the help
of these brokers, who received an average of
$3,800 per person, South Korea's Unification
Ministry said.
[Refugee reception]
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Report: N. Korea Won't Invade S. Korea
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 25, 2004
Filed at 5:40 a.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il has said his
communist country has no intention of invading the South, an official North
Korean news report said Saturday.
The North's media have often said a second Korean war would not be triggered by
North Korean provocation but by an attack from the South. Nonetheless, it's
highly unusual for them to attribute such a statement to Kim, said South
Korea's official news agency, Yonhap, which monitors the North's media.
``Greater Leader Kim Jong Il has pointed out
that in the South today, there is a fuss over
the non-existing threat of invasion from the
North. But in reality, the only existing threat
of invasion is not from the North but from the
South,'' said North Korea's state-run Pyongyang
Radio.
Pyongyang Radio relayed Kim's comment at the
head of its commentary accusing the South of an
arms buildup. Yonhap carried the excerpts of the
commentary.
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Defectors to get less money, closer scrutiny
December 24, 2004 ? Reacting to the recent surge
in the number of North Koreans seeking asylum
here, the government announced yesterday that it
will tighten its screening process for defectors
and cut back significantly on the amount of
financial aid they receive.
At a press briefing, Vice Minister of
Unification Rhee Bong-jo said that beginning in
January, the amount of settlement funds to which
defectors are entitled will be reduced from 28
million won ($27,000) to 10 million won per
person.
He said defectors will have the option of
applying for additional aid for job training and
study programs. "We believe that finding a
stable job is a much better solution for a
defector to settle down in the South than giving
them money upon their arrival," Mr. Rhee said.
But he said the policy change "is also to stop
the money from going to brokers."
Most defectors to the South are aided by brokers
in China and other third countries, who demand a
cut of the financial aid the defectors
eventually receive in return for arranging
passage and safe houses.
According to the Unification Ministry, about 83
percent of North Korean defectors who have
arrived in the South this year ? a total of
1,637 as of October ?_were aided by brokers, who
on average received 4 million won per defector.
[Refugee reception]
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Uri to Back Down Security Law
By Jung Sung-ki, Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporters
The ruling Uri Party on Friday showed signs of
backing down from its current position to scrap
the controversial National Security Law within
this year, raising the cautious expectation of
forging a compromise on major reform bills with
the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) in the
ongoing ``four-way'' leadership talks.
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GNP's Unification Formula Offers Few New
Alternatives
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Suggesting a vision is always a daunting task,
especially when the object of the vision not
only staunchly refuses to be steered but also
offers barely anything to be built upon.
Rep. Park Jin of the Grand National Party (GNP)
and members of the Youido Institute, the
official think tank of the main opposition
party, might have felt the difficulty when they
held an ambitious public forum on their vision
for policies regarding North Korea, dubbed ``The
Way to an Advanced Unification,'' at the
National Assembly Memorial Hall on Tuesday.
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NK Defectors Face Stricter Screening
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
South Korea will intensify screening of North
Korean defectors at its diplomatic missions
abroad to thwart criminals' entry and false
defections, the Ministry of Unification said
Thursday.
``From next year, we will fortify the screening
procedure to weed out murderers, criminals
sought by international police and people
disguising themselves as asylum seekers,'' Vice
Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said at a news
conference. ``Even after their entry, those with
criminal records will be punished according to
domestic law.''
Seoul's strengthened measures will require
diplomatic missions to carry out thorough
background checks on all asylum seekers.
``It will not be easy to secure evidence because
they will have to depend on the statements (of
each defector),'' Rhee said. ``But I think these
measures could have a deterrent effect.''
The ministry said 10.7 percent of the 1,866
North Korean defectors who entered South Korea
this year had criminal records.
During the first six months of this year, 40
fraudulent defections have been detected _ 24
ethnic Koreans from China who disguised
themselves as North Korean defectors to come to
South Korea and 16 North Koreans who posed as
Korean-Chinese.
[refugee reception]
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Two Koreas to Issue Joint Postage Stamps
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
South Korea is seeking to issue postal stamps jointly with North Korea next
year in an effort to promote inter-Korean conciliation, the postal service
agency said Thursday.
Korea Post said it has submitted the plan to the Unification Ministry and the
National Intelligence Service for cooperation. The Unification Ministry may
contact North Korea early next year to clear the way for the issuance after
holding discussions with related South Korean officials over technological
problems, the agency said.
``The year 2005 is meaningful for both South and North Korea. Next year will
see the 50th anniversary of the inter-Korean summit meeting on June 15 and the
60th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule on Aug. 15,''
a Korea Post official said.
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Cartoons to Explain Inter-Korean Affairs
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Characters of popular Korean cartoon 'Baby
Dinosaur Dooly' sing the famous song 'We Wish
for Unification' in this comic strip. / Courtesy
of Unification Ministry
The Unification Ministry introduces a new Internet service today using famous
cartoon characters, such as Baby Dinosaur Dooly, to enhance young people's
understanding of the inter-Korean affairs, including the necessity of
reintegrating the divided peninsula, ministry officials said Wednesday.
``Youngsters are actually losing interest in those seemingly big and boring
subjects,'' a ministry official said. ``I hope these cute characters can help
them easily understand the unification issues.''
The ministry also plans to conduct a two-day road show marking the beginning of
the Internet service at 10 places frequented by young people, such as Taehangno
and Sinchon in Seoul, to explain why the reunification is necessary to the
generations who did not experience the 1950-53 Korean War.
A survey canvassing 1,000 South Korean teenagers by the Advisory Council on
Democratic and Peaceful Unification in September showed that 37.7 percent of
them hope to maintain the status quo or disapprove of the efforts to
reintegrate the peninsula.
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Defector says Kim alive in North
December 22, 2004 ? A North Korean defector said
yesterday a South Korean pastor is likely alive
and in custody of the North Korean government,
contradicting claims earlier this week by a
National Assembly lawmaker.
In an exclusive interview with the JoongAng
Ilbo, the North Korean defector said that he met
with Kim Dong-shik before he defected to the
South.
"I met with Mr. Kim on Jan. 27, 2000, at a
detention center in North Hamgyeong province,"
said the defector, who requested anonymity. "In
July 2002, I was told by a senior official of
the State Safety and Security Agency of North
Korea that Mr. Kim was detained in Pyeongyang."
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Movie About President Park Stirs Up Controversy
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A feature film about the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in the late
1970s is currently in post-production and is expected to be released in
February.
KangJeGyu & Myung Film began shooting ``Kuddae Ku Saramdul (People at That
Time)'' in September. The film, based on Park's assassination on Oct. 26, 1979,
is expected to stir up controversy prior to its release as there are numerous
conflicting opinions about what actually happened.
Although the assassination triggered a turning point in modern Korean history,
politicians have been reluctant to discuss it. Virtually no historic evaluation
has been made concerning the former KCIA chief, which has resulted in numerous
conspiracy theories regarding the assassination and his execution.
Several civic groups have argued that Kim should be regarded as a hero since he
helped the democratization of the country by ending Park's 18-year-long
military dictatorship. A larger number of people, especially conservatives who
supported the late president's policies, disagree and call Kim nothing more
than a murderer.
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Civic Group Wants Clarification Over Jin Kyung-sook Case
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The South Korean government should check the validity of China's argument that
Jin Kyung-sook, a female North Korean defector who resettled in South Korea,
was caught in the North's territory, not abducted by North Korean agents in
China, a civic group in Seoul said Tuesday.
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Activists Rally to Support NK Defectors
By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter
South Korean activists will join human rights groups in six countries around
the world today in a synchronized rally calling on China to stop the forced
repatriation of North Korean refugees, organizers said Tuesday.
More than 500 defectors, students and church members are expected to gather in
front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul at 11 a.m. to express their concerns over
the repatriations, according to Abraham Lee, head of Refuge Pnan, one of 12
participating South Korean groups.
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Ex-residents of North protest legal changes
December 21, 2004 ? A group of former North
Koreans from the Korean War era is protesting a
government plan to revise a decades-old law that
covers the administration of the five provinces
of North Korea and supports anti-communist
propaganda.
The group of ex-North Korean residents, the
Central Association of Five Provinces, started a
signature drive yesterday to halt the
Administration Ministry's plan to revise the
special law on the provinces of North Korea. The
association said it would send petitions to the
Blue House and the National Assembly.
The law, established in 1962, specifies how to
appoint acting governors of the North Korean
provinces of Hwanghae, South and North Pyeongan,
and South and North Hamgyeong. It also defines
the roles of the acting governors and officials
of the provinces, which include promoting anti-
communist propaganda, collecting information on
the provinces, and researching policy measures
in advance of a South Korean reclamation of the
land.
Under South Korea's constitution, the five
northern provinces are considered to belong to
South Korea.
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Opposition Lawmaker Calls for Engagement With NK
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Rep. Park Jin of the opposition Grand National
Party (GNP) on Monday proposed the six-party
talks over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions expand
its role as peace manager for the Korean
peninsula in future.
``After solving the nuclear problems, I think we
need to change the role of the
multilateral talks into an international organization, a `peace manager' that
can help the North Korean economy recover,'' Park told The Korea Times.
Park's remarks came while explaining a set of draft policies on North Korea,
which he and a GNP think tank have jointly produced to counter the ruling
camp's ``sunshine'' policy of engaging the Pyongyang regime.
``I think the new organization will basically function as a guarantor of peace
on the peninsula, but after the nuclear concern is cleared, it could pick up
another role of helping the North's economic transformation, first by providing
energy and electricity,'' he said.
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Total Repeal of NSL Demanded by Koreans in U.S.
Pyongyang, December 18 (KCNA) -- The Federation
of Koreans in the U.S., the Federation for
Independence, Democracy and Reunification in
America, the Overseas Headquarters of the Joint
Secretariat of the Nationwide Special Committee
for Probing the Truth behind the GIs' Massacres,
a forum for Korea's reunification and other
Koreans' organizations in the U.S. reportedly
made public a joint statement on Dec. 4
demanding the total abolition of the "National
Security Law (NSL)" in south Korea
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Korea May Lose 'Drug-Free' Status
International Drug Rings Allegedly Use the Country as Trafficking Base
By Moon Gwang-lip
Staff Reporter
South Korea has been recognized as a ``drug-free'' nation in the international
community, thanks to its efforts to keep illegal substances out of the country
since 1989.
Different types of drugs are on display at the headquarters of the Seoul
Metropolitan Policy Agency in central Seoul on Dec. 10. The anti-narcotics team
of the agency seized the drugs, which were smuggled into the country by mail. /
Yonhap
Narcotics experts, however, have expressed concern that the nation might be
deprived of the honor before long.
According to statistics, only 16 out of every 100,000 South Koreans were
arrested on drug-related charges last year, far lower than 572 out of every
100,000 Americans in 2000. Comparable figures stood at 411 in Australia, and
353 in Thailand in 2001 and 220 in Britain in 1998.
But the number of those arrested for drug-related violations increased from
6,947 in 1997 to 8,350 in 1998 and 10,589 in 1999, according to the Supreme
Public Prosecutors' Office. The number stood at 10,304 in 2000, 10,102 in 2001
and 10,673 in 2002.
Although the number declined to 7,546 in 2003 and 6,529 in the first 10 months
of this year, experts say the country should
remain alert. They claimed that the drop was
simply due to the outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), which prompted drug
dealers across Asia to reduce their operations
during the period, the report said.
Even experts say the number of those arrested
stands at less than 5 percent of the real number
of drug users in Korea.
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Seoul vows effort to free activist pastor
December 16, 2004 ? Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon
promised yesterday that South Korea would take
steps to secure the freedom of a Protestant
minister who is believed to have been abducted
in 2000 to North Korea. Civic organizations and
opposition politicians, meanwhile, urged the
government to take a tougher stance toward
Pyeongyang on abduction issues.
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Seoul Urges Pyongyang to Resume Talks
By Kim Tae-gyu, Park Song-wu
Staff Reporters
KAESONG - Celebrating the first production of goods in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Wednesday urged North Korea to resume government-level talks, which have been suspended for six months.
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Man in custody for kidnapping cleric to North
December 15, 2004 ? An alleged North Korean
agent has confessed to having played a role in
the kidnapping four years ago of a South Korean
religious leader in China, prosecutors announced
yesterday. The man was taken into custody in
South Korea earlier this month.
The Seoul Central Public Prosecutors Office said
a 34-year-old Korean-Chinese is being held on
charges he participated in the abduction of
Reverend Kim Dong-shik, who disappeared while
doing missionary work in China.
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. Uri Calls for Probe of Rights Abuse Cases Under Previous Governments
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party on Monday called for a
comprehensive parliamentary probe into several
cases of human rights abuses including torture
and the manipulation of information by the
nation's intelligence agency under previous
authoritarian governments.
The party said it would set up an information
center for victims of torture during the period
when the predecessor of the opposition Grand
National Party (GNP) was the governing party.
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Government Urged to Press for Release of
Kidnapped Pastor
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu
Staff Reporters
The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) on
Tuesday urged the government to press Pyongyang
for the release of South Korean pastor Kim Dong-
shik, who was abducted by North Korean agents in
China more than four years ago.
``The Unification Ministry and other related
government offices should actively try to
confirm whether he is dead or alive, and seek
the repatriation of all South Koreans who have
been abducted by the North,'' Rep. Park Kye-dong
of the GNP told The Korea Times.
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Opposition Lawmakers, Journalists Sued for Libel
Over Spy Claims
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party on Sunday launched
defamation suits against three opposition
lawmakers, including Joo Sung-young, accusing
them of making false allegations that one of its
legislators, Lee Chul-woo, was acting as a North
Korean spy.
The governing party also filed similar criminal
suits against the publisher and a reporter of
the weekly ``Mirae Hankuk (Future of Korea),''
which ignited the dispute by reporting that Lee
joined North Korea's ruling Workers' Party in
1992.
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Government to Ease Restrictions on Travel to North Korea
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korean civilians wanting to travel to North Korea will likely see less difficulty in getting government approval to visit the communist nation next year, according to officials Saturday.
The government is considering easing the requirements for cross-border travel in preparation for an expected boom in the inter-Korean human exchanges next year, the fifth anniversary of the historic first summit between the two Koreas, the officials said.
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North Korea to Create Committee for Inter-Korean Summit Anniversary
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea will establish a preparatory committee composed of representatives from political parties and organizations to meet the pledges of the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000, the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean paper based in Japan, reported Sunday
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Helping Improve Credibility of North Korea
The BBC news Wednesday reported of President Roh
Moo-hyun's surprising visit to South Korean
troops deployed in Iraq. Mentioning the size of
deployment, the largest after the United States
and Britain, the news observed this as part of
South Korea's efforts to strengthen its
relations with the U.S. ``to counterbalance the
threat from North Korea.''
The interpretation saddened me because it is
felt that South Korean people and the government
stand firmly against North Korea and has no
ethnic sympathy whatsoever. Is this really true?
Are we South Koreans really worried about the
threat from North Korea? Is it the reason why
the Roh govemnent wants to a closer and tight
relationship with the U.S.? To guarantee more
secure protection from the U.S. for the case of
a nuclear threat from the North?
I wouldn't think so. From my perspective, the
main reason is to appeal to the U.S. and the
global community to help recover rotten
credibility of North Korea, as part of Korea,
not as an adversary. And also to overcome a
possible armed attack approved and operated in
the future, which will completely destroy both
the North and South, and eventually will be very
far away from reunification. All these humble
reasons are flowing under these efforts.
Kim Se-jeong
Asheville, NC, USA
12-10-2004 15:57
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Uri in uproar; treason charge roils Assembly
December 11, 2004 ? Angry confrontations between
the governing Uri and opposition Grand National
parties continued yesterday over Uri lawmaker
Lee Chul-woo, charged by Grand National
lawmakers with being a spy for North Korea.
The National Assembly opened a special session
yesterday to take up the Uri Party's main
legislative slate of reform bills, but the
political eruption over Mr. Lee is threatening
to paralyze legislation again. Uri leaders are
hoping to bring to the Assembly floor reform
measures covering the media and private schools
as well as approval for an investigation into
the country's modern history and what is
regarded as the paramount action, the abolition
of the anti-communist National Security Law.
Disrupting Assembly business, the Grand National
Party has been relentless in charging that Mr.
Lee is a longtime member of the North Korean
Workers' Party, who received a code name and has
been working for the communist country as a spy.
Opposition lawmakers said the Assembly should
hold hearings to investigate Mr. Lee's
background.
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More frontline leadership
Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan visiting Korean
troops yesterday along the border with North
Korea in Cheolwon, Gangwon province. Mr. Lee
went on the trip to boost the morale of the
soldiers at the year's end. Earlier this week,
President Roh Moo-hyun made a surprise visit to
see South Korean forces in northern Iraq.
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Spycatchers missing the old days
December 11, 2004 ? The number of suspected
North Korean spies caught by South Korean
counterespionage agents has dropped
significantly since the landmark summit meeting
in 2000 between former President Kim Dae-jung
and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Intelligence officials say the reason is they no
longer receive sufficient government support to
do their job.
According to the National Assembly's
intelligence committee records, 20 spies were
caught in 1998 and 15 in 1999. Since 2000, that
number has dropped to between two to four cases
a year.
"Honestly, at a point when discussions are held
regarding the very existence of the department,
the atmosphere is getting worse," said an
official of the National Intelligence Service
working for a special section dealing with
counterespionage. "Gone are the days when one
could be proud of having caught a spy."
The official said that the higher echelons of
the service are putting more emphasis on
combating industrial espionage. Especially,
among young counterespionage personnel the lack
of support is taking its toll on the morale.
-
GNP Calls for Assembly Probe Into Spy Story
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) on Friday demanded a parliamentary
investigation be launched into the alleged spy case of Rep. Lee Chul-woo of the
ruling Uri Party.
GNP floor leader Kim Deog-ryong urged the governing party to clarify why it
allowed Lee to run for the April elections, asking, ``Who else in South Korea
needs to keep the flag of the Workers' Party and portraits of Kim Il-sung and
Kim Jong-il?''
-
Treason charges fly in Assembly
December 10, 2004 ? The Uri and Grand National
parties headed into the last day of the regular
National Assembly session yesterday locked in a
fierce fight over allegations of treason by a
lawmaker.
Late Wednesday, several Grand National lawmakers
charged that Representative Lee Chul-woo of the
Uri Party joined the North Korean Workers' Party
in the 1980s, received a code name and has been
working for the communist country as a spy.
"Now we know why the Uri Party is arguing for
the abolition of the National Security Law,"
Park Seung-hwan of the Grand National Party said
Wednesday.
-
Ruling Party Demands GNP Apology for Spy Story
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party on Thursday denounced the
Grand National Party (GNP) as a redbaiter,
saying the opposition party fabricated an
``espionage case'' in the National Assembly by
labeling Rep. Lee Chul-woo as a member of North
Korea's Workers' Party.
``I can't remain silent and just overlook this
case,'' Lee Bu-young, Uri Party chairman, said
at a rally in front of the Assembly building in
which more than 300 ruling party members
attended. ``The GNP still has good old memories
of keeping the military regime by making up spy
cases.''
-
The North Korean Defector Trade
Human Rights Activists or Human Slave Traders?
Some "Human rights" activists make windfall profits off North Korean defectors
- their clients include foreign intelligence orgs, NGOs, and news media
Lee Gui-ok (age 35) is a defector from North Korea. He was with the group of 44
defectors who broke into the Canadian Embassy in Beijing on September 29, 2004.
He left the group before the Canadian episode. In a recent interview, Lee
detailed the plight of the North Korean defectors. He said (according to
Digital Mal):
"It was a den of armed robbers. All they wanted was to make money off us, They
locked us in an apartment and covered all windows and locked the doors so that
we could not see out or go out. At the right moment, they had their prey jump
into a foreign embassy. What kind of humanitarian work is this? Those activists
are human rights violators - not humanitarians. Once snagged by them, there is
no escaping. They lock you up and you cannot leave. You can talk only in
whispers because your neighbors may hear you and call the police. You get
beaten savagely if you don't do as you are told. You become slaves in
apartments that are prisons without bars or barbed wires."
Currently four 'human rights' groups in China 'help' North Korean defectors to
escape to South Korea.
[Refugee encouragement]
-
Uri Demands GNP Apology for Making up Spy Case
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party on Thursday denounced the
Grand National Party (GNP) as a redbaiter,
saying the opposition party fabricated an
``espionage case'' in the National Assembly by
labeling Rep. Lee Chul-woo as a member of North
Korea's Workers' Party.
``I can't remain silent and just overlook this
case,'' Lee Bu-young, Uri Party chairman, said
at a rally in front of the Assembly building in
which more than 300 ruling party members
attended. ``The GNP still has good old memories
of keeping the military regime by making up spy
cases.''
Rep. Chun Jung-bae, floor leader of the ruling
party, demanded Rep. Park Geun-hye, GNP
chairwoman, make an official apology and urged
Rep. Joo Sung-young and his two colleagues to
voluntarily resign. ``If they don't accept our
request, we will use every possible way to expel
the three lawmakers from parliament,'' Chun
said.
A day earlier, Lee was accused by the GNP
members, led by Joo, of joining the North Korean
ruling party in 1992 and serving for the
Pyongyang regime as a spy until now. Lee
immediately denied it but the plenary chamber
turned into a battleground of high-pitched
shouts.
-
Rift Widens Over National Security Law Annulment
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday staged another
round of confrontation at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary
Committee over a bill to scrap the National Security Law.
Some 10 GNP lawmakers, including Rep. Kim Yong-kap and Rep. Kong Sung-jin
gathered around the chairman's seat to occupy it in a bid to prevent what they
called another ``nalchigi,'' or slamming the gavel in a quick and surprising
manner to declare the passing of a bill. Other GNP members, including Rep. Choi
Yeon-hee, chairman of the committee, were absent from the scene
-
Jeong Se-hyun Denies Role as Special Envoy
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun on
Monday denied speculations that his upcoming
visit to China, a close ally of North Korea, is
related with the government's attempt to sound
out Beijing on Seoul's possible dispatch of a
special envoy to Pyongyang.
``My schedule is to visit China and Vietnam from
Dec. 17 to 24, during which I will participate
in scholastic events,'' he said. ``It's not
related with (regional politics). I don't think
it's a proper task for a former government
official to do.''
Jeong served as unification minister from
January 2002 to June 2004.
-
Lawmakers battle over security law
December 07, 2004 ? The governing Uri Party and
the opposition Grand National Party fought hand-
to-hand again yesterday in the National Assembly
over a bill that would abolish the anti-
communist National Security Law. The hearing
melted down into a scuffle.
-
Uri Shelves Bill to Scrap Security Law
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party said Tuesday it will not seek to pass a bill to scrap the
controversial National Security Law within this year, proposing an open debate
to resolve the issue.
-
Roh says North Korea will not collapse
December 06, 2004 ? WARSAW ? In a speech to
Korean residents of Poland, President Roh Moo-
hyun strongly discounted the chance that North
Korea would collapse politically or
economically.
The president, who is winding up a three-nation
tour of Europe this week, said Saturday that
China will support Pyeongyang because it wants
to prevent a flood of North Korean refugees
coming across its border. Mr. Roh also said
North Korea would be better able to sustain
itself because it is slowly moving toward
openness and economic reform.
"Some have said that North Korea will collapse,"
Mr. Roh said. "But I believe there is almost no
such possibility. If something happens in North
Korea and millions of North Koreans go over the
Amnok river, then it will become a very
difficult, almost unmanageable problem for
China."
The Amnok, also known as the Yalu, flows along
the border of China and North Korea.
Mr. Roh said, "Beijing helps Pyeongyang in many
ways so that it cannot collapse."
Saying that North Korea would eventually make
rational choices for greater openness and market
reforms, Mr. Roh said it is "closely examining
the situations of Vietnam and China as examples
of reform."
The president said he saw little chance of
Pyeongyang launching a war of aggression. "The
Gaeseong Industrial Complex is where North Korea
would concentrate soldiers if it wants to attack
South Korea," Mr. Roh said. "Gaeseong is a
launching point of attack, but military
facilities there were removed voluntarily and an
industrial complex was built instead."
In a series of remarks over the past week, Mr.
Roh appears to be urging the United States to
soften its approach to Pyeongyang in the effort
to bring the North Korean nuclear arms crisis to
an end.
-
Old soldiers meet tragic fate
December 06, 2004 ? For Seoul, it's a sensitive
issue. For families of former South Korean
prisoners of war in North Korea who managed only
in recent years to flee the Stalinist state and
return home, it's a very special kind of
separated family issue: Most of the long-time
involuntary residents of North Korea had to
leave wives and children behind in the north
when they finally fled south.
"It kills me when I think about them. I am free,
but I know they might be suffering because of
what I did," said Kim Ki-jong, 71, who came to
the South via China last March. Mr. Kim said he
left behind his wife, three sons and two
daughters. His wife and his youngest son might
have made it to China, but their lives, if they
are indeed there, are no more secure than they
were in the North. China often repatriates
escaped North Koreans to their homeland.
"Last year in December we received a call from a
broker in China asking us to send some money.
After consultations with government officials
here we elected not to," said Mr. Kim.
-
North Korea Won't Collapse: Roh
By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent
WARSAW - South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun
said on Saturday that, contrary to some people's
predictions, North Korea is not likely to fall
suddenly.
While meeting with South Korean residents in
Poland, Roh said a sudden collapse of the North
will not be desirable for South Korea as well as
China, which share borders with the communist
country.
-
Uri Reaffirms Stance on Bill to Abolish Security
Law
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Amid a high-stakes game of chicken with the
opposition Grand National Party (GNP), the
ruling Uri Party on Monday vowed to present the
bill for the repeal of the National Security Law
to the National Assembly's Legislative and
Judiciary Committee within this year using all
means possible.
-
Inter-Korean Summit
Pyongyang Ought to Show Sincere Attitude
When will the nuclear standoff between North
Korea and the United States be peacefully
resolved? When will the second round of inter-
Korean summit talks materialize?
Although the two issues are separate, they have
been becoming more inter-linked
of late as it is generally believed that Pyongyang has no choice but to
diplomatically solve the nuclear dispute as quickly as possible before
Washington loses patience. Against this backdrop, it is natural for the Seoul
government to seek an inter-Korean summit after a peaceful resolution to the
nuclear crisis in order to shore up its dismal approval rate among the general
public.
-
Poverty Forces Over 50% of NK Defections
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
More than 50 percent of North Korean defectors fled their communist country due
to economic difficulties, according to a survey announced by the Unification
Ministry in Seoul on Sunday.
The survey of 4,075 North Koreans who entered South Korea from 2000 to June
this year, showed that 2,263 defectors, or 55.5 percent, escaped their homeland
because of poverty, the ministry said.
``More than half of the defectors left North Korea to avoid destitution and
starvation,'' a ministry official said. ``Political oppression is not playing
as big a role as we thought.''
Around 367 people, or 9 percent cited ``political dissatisfaction'' as a reason
for defection, the ministry said.
-
Fleeing Korea's problems
Statistics from the Center for Immigration Studies in the United States show that about 172,000 South Koreans have immigrated to the United States since 2000. This number almost equals the total number of South Korean immigrants to the United States in the 1990s, which amounted to 183,000 in a span of ten years. Considering that it takes about three years to prepare for immigration, this shows that there was an upsurge of people who decided to emigrate after the financial crisis hit Korea in 1997.
If we include the number of people who have left South Korea for good and emigrated to countries other than the United States, the total number of emigrants from 2000 onward would be much greater. Those who sent their children for early study abroad programs are, in the long term, potential emigrants.
If we look at the enormous interest in emigration exhibitions and fairs, we can see there is a large number of people who are considering or preparing for emigration. On television shopping channels, emigration help programs are becoming hit products.
Why are these people leaving their home country for strange and distant lands? There are those who are leaving the hellish educational conditions of this country, those who cannot bear the deadly burden of private education expenses, those who cannot find a job in Korea and those who are leaving to find new opportunities for business. Another group of emigrants are those who can make a fair living here but are repulsed by the bickering in politics and the social injustice. They all have different reasons for leaving but to sum up, they are leaving because it has become difficult or distasteful to live in this country.
-
Roh: 6-way talks, then summit
December 04, 2004 ? LONDON ? At a press
conference here, President Roh Moo-hyun said he
saw little likelihood that another inter-Korean
summit could be held if the nuclear stand-off
with North Korean remains unsolved.
"I think there is a very low possibility of an
inter-Korean summit while the six-party talks
are under way," Mr. Roh said in answer to
reporters' questions Thursday local time,
immediately following a meeting with Prime
Minister Tony Blair of Britain.
"A wise man does not strive for a hard-to-attain
goal," Mr. Roh said. "I do not think that an
inter-Korean summit will achieve something while
North Korea and the United States are engaged in
tense negotiations in the framework of the six-
party talks
..
-
Battle starts over security law
December 04, 2004 ? Uri Party initial efforts to
legislate the abolition of the anti-communist
National Security Law met blunt rejection
yesterday in the National Assembly from the
Grand National Party in a scene that ended in a
round of scuffles and verbal abuse.
The two parties have been at odds over the bill
for months. While the Uri Party argues that the
law violates basic human rights and should be
done away with, the Grand National Party claims
that doing so would harm the security of the
country and threaten Korea's liberal democracy.
-
If the North plays with us, they must live like
us, too
December 04, 2004 ? There has been talk that a
unified North and South Korean soccer team may
be formed for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Yet before we go out to Gwanghwamun and light
another candle to show our support, we should
sit down and really think this through.
Granted that there are many steps to be taken
before an actual team can be fielded, but let's
assume that FIFA, soccer's governing body, has
cleared up all the technical issues and we only
need to give our blessing.
Are we going to embrace this team as another
step in the right direction for inter-Korean
relations? Are we going to enter the stadium
hand in hand, carrying a symbolic flag showing
the peninsula?
Are we going to sing "Our wish is unification?"
If we do so, it should happen under one
condition only. The North Korean players would
be able to share a room with whomever they like.
They would have free access to television, and
they could talk to absolutely anyone they wished
to.
There is no need for North Korean officials to
accompany their players. If the South Korean
players decide to go out and have some real
German beer, the North Koreans would be allowed
to go as well, with nobody watching over them.
-
Hunger Prayer of S. Korean Christians
Pyongyang, December 2 (KCNA) -- Members of an
organization under the south Korean Christian
Presbyterian Council reportedly called a press
conference in Seoul on November 29 and declared
that they were going on a hunger prayer and
would persist in it till the "National Security
Law" would have been abolished. At the press
conference Rev. Kim Tong Won, chairman of the
Christian Presbyterian Council, accused the
right-wing conservatives of opposing the
abolition of the NSL, an obstacle to
reunification, saying the Korean nation should
achieve reunification by itself without help
from outside.
-
Roh Says No S-N Summit Under 6-Party Process
By Ryu Jin, Reuben Staines
Korea Times Correspondent, Staff Reporter
WARSAW - President Roh Moo-hyun Thursday said he will not hold a summit with
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as long as the six-party process to resolve the
nuclear standoff is under way.
Replying to a reporter's question during a joint press conference with British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, Roh said the chances of Seoul pursuing an
inter-Korean summit to make a breakthrough in the nuclear issue are ``very
low.''
-
Defector-spy imbroglio grows
December 03, 2004 ? After news reports that
prosecutors are investigating a North Korean
defector for espionage activities, Chung Dong-
young, minister of unification, acknowledged
yesterday that there had been similar cases of
North Korean defectors here returning to the
North.
A ranking Roh administration official also said
yesterday that intelligence authorities have
expanded investigations into possible spies
masquerading as defectors in South Korea. "A
senior North Korean intelligence official
defected to South Korea in February," the
official said. "He informed us about North
Korean agents who have been posing as
defectors."
-
Seoul Denies Defector's Spying Activities
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Government officials on Thursday rebuffed a news report that claimed a North
Korean defector, identified by his surname Lee, engaged in espionage in South
Korea.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS), which initially investigated
suspicions of Lee's spying, said in a press release that he didn't conduct any
intelligence-gathering activities in South Korea.
The media report, which prompted anti-communist sentiment among conservatives
in the South, came as the ruling Uri Party is trying to scrap the
anti-communist National Security Law.
-
NGOs face crisis over U.S. rights act
Word of the U.S. North Korean Human Rights Act has spread quickly among defectors in China, Russia and other countries, as well as to citizens in the communist state, a nongovernmental organization says.
Tim Peters, founder of Helping Hands Korea who has spoken with people in China recently, said news of the bill may encourage North Koreans to defect or refugees to seek asylum when previously they would have been "less inclined to do so."
He also sees the bill causing divisions among North Koreans not loyal to the communist party.
That's good news to Peters, but disconcerting for others with a common goal to improve human rights in North Korea who prefer the South Korean government tend to the North's needs first, or that the United States not involve itself at all.
[Refugee encouragement]
-
Working Contact Among Koreans in North, South
and Overseas in Mt.Kumgang
Three-Point Joint Press Release Issued
A working-level contact among the
representatives of Koreans in the North, the
South and overseas took place at a Mt. Kumgang
resort on November 23 and 24. It was attended by
the representatives of Koreans from all walks of
life in the North, the South and overseas and
those of various reunification movements.
-
North Blames South for West Sea Battle
The Navy of North Korea criticized South Korea for firing shots of its boats,
calling the action a "grave military provocation." The Navy Command of the KPA
(the Korean People's Army) issued a communique on November 2 accusing the South
Korean military authorities of provoking the North. The communique said as
follows.
At around 10:55 that morning, combat warships of South Korea fired several
shells at a patrol boat of the Navy of the KPA on a routine guard duty in the
waters of the North side
-
Defectors in Seoul Skeptical of NK Exile Government
Support From South Korea Needed for Establishment
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu
Staff Reporters
North Korean defectors residing in South Korea on Wednesday expressed skepticism over an attempt to establish a North Korean government-in-exile in Japan to oppose Kim Jong-il's communist regime.
The heads of six associations of North Korean defectors reportedly agreed to set up a provisional government by March next year during a meeting in Tokyo Nov. 19-20.
But several prominent defectors in Seoul told The Korea Times that while they sympathize with any bid to democratize North Korea, they have reservations about the proposed government's political motives, support-base and chances of bringing about real change.
-
South and North Korean Diplomats Discuss NK Nuclear Issue
WASHINGTON (Yonhap) _ Diplomats from the two Koreas met in New York on Tuesday at a seminar on the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program.
Wi Sung-lac, political minister at South Korea's embassy in Washington, said he met Han Song-ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, at the luncheon seminar organized by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP).
``I attended as an individual at the invitation of the NCAFP,'' Wi said. ``About 20 participants, including U.S. experts on the Korean peninsula, mainly heard North Korea's view on six-party talks from Han.''
Wi described the seminar as ``useful,'' but did not disclose details, including what the North Korean diplomat said. He said no U.S. government official was present.
-
A spy turns up among defectors
December 02, 2004 ? South Korean intelligence officials said yesterday that a North Korean agent had successfully infiltrated South Korea in the wave of defectors who have fled their communist homeland and sought asylum in the South.
The agent, who recently turned himself in to the South Korean authorities, had been ordered to gather information on Seoul's handling of defectors. According to the sources, the man, who was not identified, returned to North Korea to deliver information to authorities in Pyeongyang.
It is the first time Seoul officials have acknowledged that a North Korean spy posing as an asylum-seeker has reached the South. The government and the National Security Council were told about the case by intelligence officials four months ago, but the information has been closely guarded.
-
Tears and anger: Flt. 858 recalled
November 30, 2004 ?
A family member yesterday at the memorial held
at Seoul City Hall for victims of KAL 858.
[YONHAP]
[photo]
Family members of the victimes of Korea Airlines
Flt. 858 commemorated in Seoul yesterday the
17th anniversary of the airliner's disappearance
over the Indian Ocean off Myanmar.
On Nov. 29, 1987, the plane departed Baghdad for
Seoul with 115 passengers aboard, just days
before presidential elections in South Korea.
At the time, the Blue House and the intelligence
authorities announced that the plane had
exploded as the result of a bomb planted on
board by North Korea.
Kim Hyun-hee, a North Korean agent, confessed to
the bombing. Families of the victims, however,
have long contended that there was not enough
evidence to support Seoul's explanation of the
incident, and they have demanded a new
investigation.
At yesterday's memorial, 250 participants
including the victims' families and activists,
participated. [Terrorism]
-
Christians Call for Abolishing Evil Law in S.
Korea
Pyongyang, November 27 (KCNA) -- The National
Council of Priests for Justice and Peace and the
Headquarters of the Christian Movement for
Abolition of the "National Security Law" in
south Korea reportedly called a press conference
in Seoul on November 22 to call for abolishing
the evil law. Vice-Chairman Pak Su Hyon and
Permanent Chairman Kim Pyong Gyun of the
national council and other speakers said that
the NSL has been used for keeping the power of
the conservative forces under the cloak of
security and that the evil law must be abrogated
for south-north exchange and reunification.
A declaration read out at the press conference
charged that some religionists are putting the
brake on the repeal of the evil law in collusion
with the conservative forces.
After the press conference the participants
conveyed the declaration to the "House of
National Assemblymen."
-
`Silmido' Tops 25th Blue Dragon Awards
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The blockbuster ``Silmido'' garnered three prizes _ Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor Award _ at the 25th Blue Dragon Awards ceremony, held in Seoul Monday.
At the ceremony held at the Main Hall of the National Theater of Korea in Changchung-dong, Seoul, director Kang Woo-suk was on hand to receive the prizes for his film, a Cold War thriller based on a true story about a suicide commando unit created in the late 1960s to assassinate North Korean leader.
[Unit 684]
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