E/CN.4/1996/40/Add.1
page 103
6.
In its reply, the Government dismissed the allegation that either of the
men were under detention. Mr. Kang Jung Sok arrived in North Korea
voluntarily on 28 October 1971 after spending one year and three months
working in a coal mine in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Government
provided the Working Group with excerpts from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper of
29 October 1971 which purports to quote the statement made by Mr. Kang upon
his arrival at Pyongyang airport. The Government further provided details
about Mr. Kang’s present address and profession. Nevertheless, the Government
did not affirm specifically that Mr. Kang had never been detained for any
period of time between 29 October 1971 and May 1995. As for Mr. Ko Sang Mun,
the Government describes his "suffering in South Korea" and refers to his
press conference on 15 August 1994 in which he explained his motives for
coming to The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Government also
attached a clipping from the People’s Korea newspaper of 27 August 1994,
giving excerpts from a testimony given by Mr. Ko. He reportedly pretended to
accept working for the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency and was sent
to Western Europe to "incite popular sentiments" and "build an organization"
in North Korea. But in 1979 he went to a North Korean embassy in a European
country and sought asylum in North Korea. The Government indicates that
Mr. Ko works as a researcher at the Scientific Research Institute in
Pyongyang, but his address is not given. In the case of Ko Sang Mun the
Government did not specifically state that he had never been under detention.
7.
The Working Group has before it two contradictory versions of events
concerning Kang Jung Sok and Ko Sang Mun. The source, on the one hand,
affirms that both men were being held in 1990 in the Sungho detention centre,
where political prisoners are allegedly held; the Government, on the other,
affirms that they are not being detained at present, but does not say that
they have never been detained in the past. Furthermore, while the Government
indicates the address of Mr. Kang Jung Sok’s present residence, it fails to do
the same regarding Mr. Ko Sang Mun.
8.
In the light of the above, the Working Group decides to keep the case
pending while awaiting further information under paragraph 14 (c) of its
methods of work.
Adopted on 13 September 1995.