Facebook
Twitter
Meetup
Advertisements, links with an http address and inappropriate language will be deleted.
2017.06.28
| Won | Pyongyang | Sinuiju | Hyesan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Rate | 8,070 | 8,050 | 8,095 |
| Rice Price | 5,800 | 6,000 | 5,900 |
Renegade lawmaker Lee Seok Gi was one of only four National Assembly members to oppose a National Assembly resolution yesterday calling for an inquiry into the ‘Kim Young Hwan torture incident’.
The resolution, which passed in the full National Assembly by a vote of 177 for to 4 against with 5 abstentions, calls for both an inquiry into the torture case and confirmation that there will be no repeat of the crime in future. However, it was opposed by United Progressive Party (UPP) lawmakers Lee, Kim Jae Yeon and Oh Byung Yun, and Democratic United Party (DUP) lawmaker Chang Ha Na.
Ironically, Lee and Kim Young Hwan have a history of close relations, with Lee having been head of the South Gyeonggi Province section of the National Democratic Revolutionary Party (aka ‘Minhyukdang’) which Kim founded on the orders of Kim Il Sung in the early 1990s.
However, the two men parted some years later, when Kim decided to abandon the pro-North Korean cause in the face of overwhelming evidence of abuses being perpetrated by the regime in Pyongyang. Conversely, Lee did not change course, and continued his activities underground for three years before being arrested and imprisoned.
Kim Jae Yeon and Oh Byung Yun, meanwhile, are key members of the former mainstream faction of the UPP that has caused a great deal of trouble for the party since allegations of fraudulent proportional representative primary elections in January surfaced earlier in the year.
It is as yet unclear why Chang chose to go against the mainstream of the DUP by voting against the resolution.
Putting forward the resolution, ruling party lawmaker Ahn Hong Joon of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee told the National Assembly, “Four of our citizens, Kim Young Hwan, Yoo Jae Kil, Kang Shin Sam and Lee Sang Yong, were arrested on March 29th in Dalian, China on suspicion of violating Chinese national security. They were released 114 days later, but while they were in detention their right to both legal representation and family visitation was rejected and they insist that they were subjected to various kinds of cruel treatment.”
“If these various types of cruel treatment including torture did occur, then as a very serious human right violation against our people it would go beyond being a bilateral problem and become a violation of the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he added.
The resolution, which passed in the full National Assembly by a vote of 177 for to 4 against with 5 abstentions, calls for both an inquiry into the torture case and confirmation that there will be no repeat of the crime in future. However, it was opposed by United Progressive Party (UPP) lawmakers Lee, Kim Jae Yeon and Oh Byung Yun, and Democratic United Party (DUP) lawmaker Chang Ha Na.
Ironically, Lee and Kim Young Hwan have a history of close relations, with Lee having been head of the South Gyeonggi Province section of the National Democratic Revolutionary Party (aka ‘Minhyukdang’) which Kim founded on the orders of Kim Il Sung in the early 1990s.
However, the two men parted some years later, when Kim decided to abandon the pro-North Korean cause in the face of overwhelming evidence of abuses being perpetrated by the regime in Pyongyang. Conversely, Lee did not change course, and continued his activities underground for three years before being arrested and imprisoned.
Kim Jae Yeon and Oh Byung Yun, meanwhile, are key members of the former mainstream faction of the UPP that has caused a great deal of trouble for the party since allegations of fraudulent proportional representative primary elections in January surfaced earlier in the year.
It is as yet unclear why Chang chose to go against the mainstream of the DUP by voting against the resolution.
Putting forward the resolution, ruling party lawmaker Ahn Hong Joon of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee told the National Assembly, “Four of our citizens, Kim Young Hwan, Yoo Jae Kil, Kang Shin Sam and Lee Sang Yong, were arrested on March 29th in Dalian, China on suspicion of violating Chinese national security. They were released 114 days later, but while they were in detention their right to both legal representation and family visitation was rejected and they insist that they were subjected to various kinds of cruel treatment.”
“If these various types of cruel treatment including torture did occur, then as a very serious human right violation against our people it would go beyond being a bilateral problem and become a violation of the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he added.
