Wednesday 4 March 2009

human rights violation in south korea

Dear friends,

It is a unanimous will and aspiration of the Korean people in the north, south and overseas to realize independent reunification under the banner of the June 15 joint-declaration and October 4 declaration.

The historic North-South joint declarations are inspiring the entire Korean nation with the confidence and optimism about the Korea ’s independent reunification.

However, the south Korean authorities are suppressing the growing aspiration of south Korean people and maneuvering like fascist to oppress the patriotic democratic forces for reunification.

As soon as Lee Myung Bak took power, he has been entirely reconstructing the former fascist dictatorship saying for regaining so-called “the lost decade”.

Today, in south Korea , a “special team for capture” similar to the “BaekGolDan” (skeleton gang) which stroke people with terror in the former military dictatorship era has been organized. And the police with shields, electric shock tools and water jet canons are fracturing arms and legs and breaking heads of demonstrators to bloodily break up the demonstrations, which are terrible scenes.

In spite of the unanimous protest of the opposition parties and different civil organizations, Lee Myung Bak regime is going to totally block and intercept the elementary requirements of south Korean people for freedom and democracy by railroading different evil laws such as “the amendment of law on assembly and demonstration”, “the amendment of law on national intelligence agency”, “the law on cyber insult” and “the bill on media” through the National Assembly.

Lee Myung Bak regime is exercising “the National Security Law”, a fascist evil law, and extending and strengthening the repressive machineries like former dictatorship regimes in the past. And then it is oppressing arbitrarily the progressive organizations and people in south Korea who are asserting the reconciliation and unity with the brothers in north and struggling for the independent reunification.

Its authority has seized, searched, arrested and hauled the progressive civil societies including the Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration and their core members almost every day.

Only in last May, twenty five parties and organizations have been harshly repressed by the authority under the false charge of “enemy-benefiting organization”, and “vanguard of the Pro-north leftist forces”. Within one or two months after Lee Myung Bak took power, nine “security related cases” have broken out and many progressive people have been arrested and imprisoned for “violation of security law”.

A teacher of “the All Teachers Trade Union” has been arrested for education of reunification and the chairwoman of the Committee for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration has been hauled in front of her husband before a day of her honeymoon. Furthermore, the chairman of the south headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance of Youth and Students for Korea’s Reunification has fallen into a trap and been imprisoned by the national intelligence agency and police. He has not seen his daughter because he had been wanted by police for a long time.

Last September 27, the judiciary authority of south Korea ransacked the offices of the Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration all around the country, the June 15 TV broadcasting company and the June 15 School, and imprisoned their core members for three months and then judged them according to “the National Security Law”.

The “National Security Law”, an evil law which had been used by the former military dictatorships to repress the movements for democracy, is an anachronistic one to obstruct the North and South to march toward the reunification.

Claiming that the peaceful candlelight demonstration of south Korean people for the right to live is an “illegal violent one” under the backstage manipulation of the “leftist forces”, the authority has mobilized the repressive forces to suppress it ruthlessly.

In last June 10, south Korean government and police authority ordered an “emergency alert” throughout the territory and mobilized 417 companies of 40,000 soldiers to repress the candlelight demonstration of about a million people against the importation of the US beef.

In January 20, in Ryongsan, Seoul , civilians opposing the housing removal by the authority and demanding for right to live were burnt to death and injured by the extreme repression of the police.

At dawn of January 20, the police authority mobilized about 1,600 policemen for repressing operation. It concluded into a terrible accident of 5 deaths and 20 casualties of evacuees.

The repressive policy and violations of human rights of the Lee regime in less than a year after its assumption to power go extremely against the UN Charter and the international humanitarian laws claiming to respect the people’s fundamental rights and dignity and grant their rights to live, which are giving rise to protests and denunciations from not only the entire Korean people but also the world peace-loving people.

Today the democratic forces for reunification are being repressed under the “National Security Law” in south Korea and the inter-Koreas relationship is becoming worse and worse. It shows that the anti-fascist democratization in south Korea is an imminent task of utmost urgency.

The KDLA is sending this document to you hoping that the justice and peace loving organizations and peoples of the world will pay attention to the current situation of south Korea and take necessary measures to prevent the recurrences of such repressions and violations of human rights.



Korean Democratic Lawyers Association

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