Missionary Kim Jeong-wook (60, currently) has been conducting relief work and missionary work for North Korean defectors and North Korean residents since 2008 based in Dandong, China. He was arrested in Pyongyang in October 2013. At the time, North Korea only announced that they had arrested a “South Korean intelligence agent spy” who had entered North Korea illegally. The following February, they held a foreign press conference with Kim. At the time, Kim said, “I apologize for the charges of anti-state crimes.” In May of that year, he was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment and “life-term reeducation through labor” on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the state, anti-state propaganda, and illegal border crossing.
On September 20, 2024, the 4,000th day since Kim was detained in North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and Canada called for the release of all six South Koreans detained in North Korea, including Kim.
In a statement issued by Minister of Unification Kim Young-ho on the same day, the government said, “Six of our citizens have been illegally detained for a long period of time, deprived of their freedom, against their will. We condemn North Korea’s illegal and inhumane atrocities,” and called for their immediate release. Minister Kim emphasized that the government will continue to strengthen cooperation with the international community to ensure that not only our citizens who have been abducted, detained, and prisoners of war, but also Japanese abductees and civilians from around the world will not fall victim to North Korea’s illegal acts. The U.S. State Department and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs also issued statements on the same day, urging the immediate and unconditional repatriation of the unjustly detained Koreans. This is the first time that the U.S. State Department has issued a statement regarding Korean detainees.
Mr. Kim is the longest-term detainee among our citizens who have been forcibly detained in North Korea. In addition to Mr. Kim, six others, including missionaries Choi Chun-gil and Kim Kook-gi, and three defectors who have acquired South Korean citizenship, are also detained in North Korea. North Korea has released all foreign detainees of other nationalities, including those from the United States and Canada, but has not even provided information on the fate or whereabouts of these six people.
Reporter Shin Gyu-jin [email protected]
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2024-09-21 03:05:28