China — ‘People’s republic of torture’

Kim Young-hwan

China has remained silent over the torture allegation made days ago by freed activist Kim Young-hwan, despite mounting calls to answer whether the allegations are true or not.

The turning of a deaf ear to the alleged human rights abuses has prompted China-bashing here as bloggers and Internet users accused it and its seemingly unaccountable attitude.

A blogger, who used the ID “Chicken Game,” demanded an apology from China.

“China tortured the Korean human rights activist, which makes it inevitable for the nation to be viewed as barbarian; and further it refuses to launch a fact-finding mission into the allegation,” the blogger wrote on the message board of the popular online forum Agora.

Another blogger using the ID “khp071561” said China deserves criticism, calling it a communist country that ignores public opinion. An Internet user identified with the ID “sammchon” tweeted that China acted like it had nothing to do with the torture. Hundreds of bloggers re-tweeted the media coverage on activist Kim.

China has ignored the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s repeated calls to reveal what it found after launching an investigation into the electric shock torture that lasted for eight hours, beatings and intimidation.

Asking for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, a foreign ministry official said that Seoul is dealing with “a very difficult country” referring to China.

“We haven’t heard anything from Beijing so far after the foreign ministry requested it to answer whether the torture allegations were true. It’s frustrating,” he said.

The Korea Times contacted the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to get their reaction to the allegations. But staff declined to answer, saying the unspecified official in charge of the matter was on a vacation.

The campaign to raise international awareness on the torture allegations and pressure China to take appropriate measures is gaining momentum.

On Thursday, the National Human Rights Commission released a statement urging China to launch a fact-finding mission and take necessary measures including an apology and punishing those who were responsible.

Meanwhile, Kim is scheduled to meet with a group of National Assembly members, including ruling Saenuri Party chairman Hwang Woo-yea, Friday. Rep. Hwang is serving as the chief of the human rights forum, an association of parliamentary members who are interested in such issues.

Rep. Ha Tae-kyung of the Saenuri Party, who organized the meeting, said the lawmakers will listen to Kim’s testimony about his incarceration at the detention center in the northeastern city of Dandong near the border with North Korea.

“Kim will also give a presentation about his efforts to bring democracy to the North as well,” Ha, also a former human rights activist, said.

“I have worked closely with human rights activists to move the awareness-building campaign forward. We are going to focus on Kim’s suffering and the Chinese authorities’ abuse of his human rights, while refraining from expanding our agenda into China’s domestic human rights issues.”

Earlier, the ruling party released a statement pressuring China to answer the torture allegations a day after Kim disclosed he was abused at the detention center.

In a recent interview, Kim said he was willing to take a medical checkup if that was necessary to find evidence that can support his allegations.

The 49-year-old plans to use the possible evidence when he, with the support of other human rights activists, brings his case to the U.N. special rapporteur on torture for investigation. The activist also plans to file a lawsuit against the Chinese government for the suffering he went through at the detention center. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung, Chung Min-uck>

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