E/CN.4/1996/40/Add.1 page 102 DECISION No. 29/1995 (DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA) Communication addressed to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 7 February 1995. Concerning Kang Jung Sok and Ko Sang Mun, on the one hand, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, on the other. 1. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in accordance with the methods of work adopted by it and in order to carry out its task with discretion, objectivity and independence, forwarded to the Government concerned the above-mentioned communication, received by it and found to be admissible, in respect of allegations of arbitrary detention reported to have occurred. 2. The Working Group notes with appreciation the information forwarded by the Government concerned in respect of the cases in question within 90 days of the transmittal of the letter by the Working Group. 3. (Same text as para. 3 of Decision No. 35/1994.) 4. In the light of the allegations made, the Working Group welcomes the cooperation of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Working Group transmitted the reply provided by the Government to the source but, to date, the latter has not provided the Working Group with its comments. The Working Group believes that it is in a position to take a decision on the facts and circumstances of the cases, in the context of the allegations made and the response of the Government thereto. 5. The communication received from the source, a summary of which was transmitted to the Government, concerned the following persons: (a) Mr. Kang Jung Sok, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, was reportedly being detained in Sungho (North Korea). It was reported that Mr. Kang had gone to the Federal Republic of Germany on 23 July 1971 to work as a miner. Since April 1972, his family had reportedly not received any news from him. It was alleged that he had been kidnapped from Germany by North Korean authorities because of his political conviction about liberal democracy. (b) Mr. Ko Sang Mun, a South Korean teacher born in 1948, who was on vacation in Oslo, Norway, was presumed to have been arrested in the North Korean Embassy in Oslo on or around 16 April 1979. It was alleged that since 1979 he was being detained in North Korea. He was reportedly accused of spying and was believed to be held in the Sungho detention centre, near Pyongyang, since the end of 1990. The source reported that, according to the North Korean authorities, Mr. Ko Sang Mun had come to North Korea voluntarily. Recent interviews with Mr. Ko, in which he reportedly asserted that he had gone to North Korea of his own free will, were reportedly broadcast by the North Korean radio, but the source expressed doubts as to the authenticity of these interviews, and suggested that they may have been made under coercion. The source further alleged that the Sungho detention centre was a camp for political prisoners.