South Korea – The Korea Times, March 14, 2025
The United Nations has classified North Korea’s prolonged detention of South Korean missionaries as “arbitrary” and called for their immediate release.
The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), under the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, adopted an opinion on Wednesday stating that North Korea’s imprisonment of missionaries Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-gil constitutes a violation of international law.
“The detention of Mr. Jung-wook Kim, Mr. Kook-ki Kim and Mr. Chun-gil Choi is arbitrary as they have been deprived of their liberty for reasons of discriminatory intent against them, because they were foreign nationals and because of their religious and humanitarian work as Christian missionaries,” the WGAD said in a report.
“The Working Group considers that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Jung-wook Kim, Mr. Kook-kie Kim and Mr. Chun-gil Choi immediately and accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
