SEOUL (UCAN) - Catholic and human rights organizations have expressed dismay that new South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, a former political prisoner, did not set free all prisoners of conscience to mark his inauguration. Of 478 prisoners of conscience, only 74 were released, while former president Kim Young-sam freed 144, said the Catholic Human Rights Committee, which demanded that the new president release "immediately all the rest."
On March 13, Kim Dae-jung granted an amnesty from which more than 5 million people benefited, mostly by having various petty charges against them, such as parking violations, canceled and ordered stricken from police records. The amnesty celebrating the Feb. 25 inauguration of Kim, the country's first Catholic president, set free 2,304 prisoners, while more than 30,000 either were given parole or saw their sentences reduced.
But many political prisoners were not released, among them labor activist and poet Park No-hae and Paik Tae-woong, both of whom Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan of Seoul cited in personal appeal letters to the new president. "I feel very sad to get out from prison while leaving so many friends behind bars," said Buddhist monk Venerable Chinjkwan, one of the released prisoners.
Justice Minister Park Sang-chon said that some political prisoners were not released because "they may overthrow the government." "We excluded from consideration those who did not make a written self-criticism or ideological conversion," the minister explained. "Ideological conversion" refers to those convicted of being communists or communist sympathizers submitting a document to the government renouncing their "communist" beliefs. Saying that the same words and pretext are being used as before, groups who staged a protest on March 13 asked what the difference is between the new government and old, dictatorial ones.
Among the protesting organizations were the Catholic rights committee, the justice and peace committees of Kwangju and Chonju dioceses, and Minkahyup, a group for families of prisoners of conscience. According to the Minkahyup, families of prisoners of conscience had welcomed the new president, more than anyone else, because he shares their experience.
The weekly "Catholic Shinmun" reported March 22 that Cardinal Kim expressed his regret that so many prisoners of conscience are still imprisoned. He also expressed consolation to them and their families, the weekly said.
The Catholic Priests' Association for Justice said March 13 that though it had appealed to the new government to release prisoners of conscience if it really wanted to reconcile the country, "our demand was not reflected at all." "President Kim Dae-jung, who was even sentenced to death, fearing the conservative power, has conducted a special presidential amnesty in such a poor way with neither principles nor criteria," the priests' group said.
UCAN (30. mars 1998)
30. mars 1998