SEOUL (UCAN) - Christian, Buddhist and Won Buddhist clergy have called on the South Korean government to abolish the National Security Law, saying that it runs counter to reform efforts initiated by President Kim Dae-jung. The call came after officials announced that Father Paul Moon Kyu-hyon, who was arrested Aug. 27, was being charged under that law for "encouraging" North Korea and "enemy praising" during the priest's August visit to the North.
The charges relate to his having participated in a unification festival and having allegedly recorded his wish for "eternal life" for Kim Il-sung in the guest book at the site where the late North Korean leader's body is displayed.
In its Sept. 16 statement, the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (CPAJ), which holds the National Security Planning Agency (NSP) responsible for Father Moon's arrest, accused the NSP of being an "anti-reform power." "The NSP must have tried to stop President Kim's dovish policy on North Korea and on reunification by expanding and manufacturing the CPAJ priest's activity in the North," the statement read.
The Interreligious Council for National Reconciliation and Reunification agreed that the arrest "ran counter to the unification policy of President Kim as well as hindered reconciliation activities between the North and South."
In its Sept. 14 statement, the interreligious council insisted that Father Moon's visit was "pastoral" and that he should be released without delay. The five-year-old council was cofounded by the CPAJ, the Buddhist Priests' Association, the Won Buddhist Priests' Association for Reform and the National (Protestant) Ministers' Association for Realization of Justice and Peace.
Meanwhile, a committee for the release of Father Moon comprising 22 Catholic groups urged the government to set free Father Moon and other political prisoners without condition at a rally at Seoul's Myongdong Cathedral.
About 200 priests, sisters and laity took part in the Sept. 14 rally held by the committee that includes the Catholic Women's Community for a New World, the Catholic Urban Poor Association, the Catholic Labor Apostolate Conference, Woori Theology Institute, and Catholic farmers' and youth groups.
At the rally, Father Bartholomew Moon Jung-hyon, an older brother of Father Moon, asked the government to reform the NSP and the National Security Law.
"The present NSP activities have caused an obstacle to the dialogue between North and South," said the older Father Moon, another of the nine CPAJ priests who were allowed to make the Aug. 11-17 visit to North Korea.
After returning to Seoul, the CPAJ priests said that North Korean officials had told them they would not be allowed to say Mass at Changchung Church in Pyongyang unless they sent representatives to the unification festival.
Saying Mass at the only Catholic church in North Korea was a prime objective of their pastoral visit, they explained.
The Mass on Aug. 15 celebrated the feast of the Assumption and marked the 10th anniversary of the church.
The unification festival was also held Aug. 15, Liberation Day, marked by both Koreas as the anniversary of the end of Japanese colonization in 1945.
The prosecutors' office that arrested Father Moon said the priest went beyond the conditions set by South Korea's Unification Ministry for the visit by joining the North's unification festival, calling it a "political activity."
UCAN 24. september 1998