Outright rights violation

China should get to bottom of torture argument

China’s human rights violation is stealing a renewed focus as Kim Young-hwan, a South Korean activist, revealed Wednesday that he had been physically abused while being detained in China for nearly four months.

Kim said in a press conference in Seoul that he was harshly treated after he refused to give details of his activities in China. He didn’t elaborate how he was treated in China but acknowledged sleep deprivation and forced labor of up to 13 hours a day.

Kim and three other activists were arrested in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian on March 29. They were released last Friday.

As preconditions for releasing them, China asked Kim to admit that he broke China’s law and to remain silent on torture after returning to Seoul. But Kim, the North Korea sympathizer-turned-human rights activist, said he rejected the demand.

It’s questionable whether China, a G2 nation thanks to its rapid economic growth, is ruled by law, given that a foreign rights activist was tortured and coerced to cover up the truth.

What is also dumbfounding is that the South Korean activists were imprisoned for 114 days without being informed of why they were arrested ― an outright illegal detention.

We give confidence to Kim’s allegations in that he has no reason to make a false statement. We urge China to conduct a thorough probe into the incident quickly, and if Kim’s argument proves true, the world’s most populous country should punish those responsible for torture and apologize to Koreans.

The South Korean government, for its part, deserves blame for its easygoing handling of the incident. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was aware of China’s harsh treatment first on June 11 when Kim had a second meeting with South Korean consuls, but it has done little since then except recalling Chinese diplomats in Seoul to ask if Kim’s allegations are true. The Chinese diplomats reportedly denied inflicting torture.

We understand the foreign ministry’s difficulty in dealing with China, taking into account that it had laboriously persuaded China to release the detainees. It would be difficult to seek cooperation from China in the event of similar incidents if it irks China. Nevertheless, principles ― the universal value of human rights and the protection of a country’s own nationals ― should be respected.

What’s noteworthy is that Kim suggested that China might have acted on tips from North Korean security agents, noting one of his colleagues had been followed by North Korean agents. It would be unusual if security agents from China and North Korea join hands to crack down on South Korean activists working there to improve North Koreans’ human rights.

It would be unfortunate if the latest incident escalates into a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing. We still hear intermittent reports on China’s poor human rights conditions and this incident may serve as a catalyst for China to improve its human rights situation. <The Korea Times>

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