SEOUL (UCAN) - Catholic South Korean rights activists have lauded the government's decision to free political and other prisoners including two Pakistanis to mark the first anniversary of Kim Dae-jung's presidency.
"We welcome the government decision to release the 17 long-term political prisoners and the two Pakistanis," Luke Oh Chang-ik, secretary general of the Catholic Human Rights Committee, told UCA News Feb. 23.
"But we cannot help but express regret over the exclusion of about 260 political prisoners," Oh said. He added that the National Security Law, which he claims continually produces political prisoners, should be abolished.
In a press conference Feb. 22, Justice Minister Park Sang-cheon announced that the government granted a special amnesty to 8,812 inmates, including 17 long-term political prisoners and 24 foreign prisoners, to mark the first anniversary of President Kim's inauguration Feb. 25.
Under the amnesty, which also commemorates the 80th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japanese colonial rule, a total of 1,508 inmates were freed from prisons across the nation on the morning of Feb. 25.
He added that the government decided to "unconditionally" free the 17 "North Korean spies" even though they refused to renounce communism and turned down a government offer to sign an oath of obedience to South Korean law.
Park admitted that the amnesty was due in part to pressure from Amnesty International and other international human rights groups that have steadfastly demanded the release of prisoners of conscience.
The justice minister also said that 24 foreign prisoners, including two Pakistanis, were being released and would be deported to their countries.
Amir Jamil and Mohammad Aziz had been sentenced to death after being convicted for murdering fellow workers, but Church and other rights groups have worked for their release, saying that it appears they are innocent.
Retired Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan of Seoul and members of the Catholic Human Rights Committee had appealed to the government on the Pakistanis' behalf, and their sentences commuted to life imprisonment under a special amnesty last Aug. 15, national liberation day. Addressing the nation on the anniversary of his presidency, Kim said that if the released North Korean prisoners want, they could be sent to North Korea in exchange for South Koreans captured by the North during the Korean War.
Hundreds of South Korean civilians are being held by North Korea, some since the Korean War (1950-53), the South Korean president noted. He also proposed that the North allow more families split by the North/South divide to reunite.
Of the released long-term political prisoners, 71-year-old Woo Yong-gak has served 41 years since he was captured in 1958 on espionage charges, while the others have served more than 29 years each on charges of spying.
Woo was possibly the longest-serving political prisoner in the world. In mid-February, Cardinal Kim, Archbishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi of Kwangju and Bishop William McNaughton of Inchon each sent a letter to President Kim appealing for the release of the 17 and other "prisoners of conscience."
Archbishop Youn praised the government's effort for human rights by pointing that it had stopped asking political prisoners to sign a conversion letter as a condition to be released even after their prison term was finished.
However, he continued, "I believe that the present law-abiding pledge, which was introduced to replace the conversion letter last year, also apparently restricts the freedom of conscience and expression."
Meanwhile, the Social Correction Apostolate Committee of Seoul archdiocese has been preparing a residence for the 17 released prisoners, whose families are in North Korea or who may find it difficult to live independently.
Father Francis Xavier Kim Chong-soo, spiritual director of the committee, told UCA News that Catholic human rights groups will help run the house.
UCAN 5. mars 1999