Case of Song Hak-sam
South Korea jails U.S. citizen for visiting north
By Scott
Scheffer
The supposedly liberal south Korean government of Kim Dae
Jung has arrested 55-year-old Song Hak-sam, a Korean American
U.S. citizen, under the notorious National Security Law.
Song was arrested on Feb. 27 and has been on a hunger strike
ever since. The government charges that he helped publish a
book on the reunification of Korea and that he traveled to
north Korea. Neither act is a violation of U.S. law. As a U.S.
citizen, it is the responsibility of the U.S. government to
secure his immediate release, but the reaction of the State
Department has been tepid.
On learning of Song's arrest, the International Action
Center issued a statement to the press demanding his immediate
release and calling for human rights activists around the world
to join a campaign to free him.
The statement points out how different the situation would
be if it were reversed. "It is not hard to imagine what the
consequences would be if a U.S. citizen were arrested in North
Korea for the 'crime' of publishing a book or visiting South
Korea. There would be international outrage. The warships would
already be dispatched." Nothing like that has happened, of
course.
The IAC is a co-sponsor of an upcoming War Crimes Tribunal
that will shed light on the terrible repression of the Korean
people since the U.S. military occupation and division of that
country in 1945. Millions of Koreans from both the north and
the south were killed before and during the 1950-53 Korean War,
and the country remains divided at the 38th parallel, with
37,000 U.S. troops stationed in the south. Tens of thousands of
Korean families have been split by the division.
The U.S. also enforces severe trade sanctions on north Korea
in an attempt to cripple its socialist economy.
Last year when the book in question became a national
bestseller, President Kim-who won the Nobel Peace Prize
supposedly for seeking to open up relations with the socialist
north--banned it, removed it from bookstores nationwide, and
arrested its publisher. Song was then arrested on Feb. 26 after
he traveled to Seoul to testify on behalf of the publisher.
Korean people have fought passionately for reunification of
their country, and expectations rose when Kim-who at one time
was part of the progressive movement and faced execution for
his role in it--won the presidency. Calls for the abolition of
the National Security Law, which a series of U.S.-sponsored
military dictatorships used to hold political prisoners for
some of the longest terms in the world, have also mounted.
The IAC statement calls on activists to phone or fax and
"demand the release of Song Hak-sam, now!"
Demands for Song's release can be sent to: White House
comment line, (202) 456-1414, fax (202) 456-2461; South Korean
Embassy, Washington, D.C., (202) 939-5601, fax (202) 2320117;
South Korean Consulate, New York, (212) 752-1700, fax (212)
421-3028; U.S. State Department, (202) 647-6575; Colin Powell's
fax, (202) 261-8577; South Korean Ministry of Justice, (011) 02
503-7012.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page