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South Korea called on North Korea Monday to discontinue misusing a recent confession by a famous North Korean defector and key witness to a U.N. probe that parts of his well-known story on the reclusive nation’s prison camps are inaccurate.
Shin Dong-hyuk admitted last month that some of his testimony of torture and other tragic experiences at the North’s political prison camps, revealed in the book “Escape from Camp 14,” is incorrect.
He said he spent most of his time in the North at a different camp and the timing of some events in his book was wrong.
Shin’s acknowledgment came after the North released a video clip of his father, who he thought was dead.
Pyongyang swiftly tried to take advantage of his move, saying it shows the U.N. Commission of Inquiry’s report on the communist nation’s human rights situation is based on wrong accounts.
The South’s unification ministry said the North is making a “preposterous” claim.
Although Shin admitted some inaccuracies in his book, “North Korea’s systemic and widespread violations of human rights is an obvious truth,” the ministry’s spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said at a press briefing.
Thus, he added, the international community’s efforts to address the problem will go on, as represented in the adoption of the U.N. resolutions against the North over it.
The North’s regime should take concrete and substantial measures in accordance with the resolutions to improve the human rights of its people, Lim said.
The official also said the government has no clear information on the fate of Pyon In-son, former head of the operational bureau of the North Korean military’s General Staff.
“It’s true that he has not been seen in public since Nov. 5 last year but whether he was purged or not has not been confirmed,” Lim said.
Citing a “source well versed in North Korea issues,” the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest-circulation newspaper, reported Monday that Pyon was purged for refusing to follow leader Kim Jong-il’s order to replace several officials in charge of military ties with China.
On Pyongyang’s refusal to talk with Seoul, the ministry’s spokesman said the government is mulling over various options. He did not elaborate.
“There is no change at all in the government’s basic position to urge North Korea to respond positively to our dialogue offer,” he said.
The South’s presidential panel on reunification proposed holding ministerial talks with the North within January. (Yonhap)
Shin Dong-hyuk admitted last month that some of his testimony of torture and other tragic experiences at the North’s political prison camps, revealed in the book “Escape from Camp 14,” is incorrect.
He said he spent most of his time in the North at a different camp and the timing of some events in his book was wrong.
Shin’s acknowledgment came after the North released a video clip of his father, who he thought was dead.
Pyongyang swiftly tried to take advantage of his move, saying it shows the U.N. Commission of Inquiry’s report on the communist nation’s human rights situation is based on wrong accounts.
The South’s unification ministry said the North is making a “preposterous” claim.
Although Shin admitted some inaccuracies in his book, “North Korea’s systemic and widespread violations of human rights is an obvious truth,” the ministry’s spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said at a press briefing.
Thus, he added, the international community’s efforts to address the problem will go on, as represented in the adoption of the U.N. resolutions against the North over it.
The North’s regime should take concrete and substantial measures in accordance with the resolutions to improve the human rights of its people, Lim said.
The official also said the government has no clear information on the fate of Pyon In-son, former head of the operational bureau of the North Korean military’s General Staff.
“It’s true that he has not been seen in public since Nov. 5 last year but whether he was purged or not has not been confirmed,” Lim said.
Citing a “source well versed in North Korea issues,” the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest-circulation newspaper, reported Monday that Pyon was purged for refusing to follow leader Kim Jong-il’s order to replace several officials in charge of military ties with China.
On Pyongyang’s refusal to talk with Seoul, the ministry’s spokesman said the government is mulling over various options. He did not elaborate.
“There is no change at all in the government’s basic position to urge North Korea to respond positively to our dialogue offer,” he said.
The South’s presidential panel on reunification proposed holding ministerial talks with the North within January. (Yonhap)
