“There is no answer…” “They have to provide some kind of a response…”
These are the unconvincing responses of the South Korean government officials in charge of obtaining the release of Mr. Yoo, a South Korean citizen being detained by North Korea.
It has been four months since Mr. Yoo, a Hyundai Asan employee in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, was detained. And yet, after so long, still nobody is sure if or when he will be released.
Yoo has been under investigation since March 30th on charges of defaming the North Korean regime and encouraging a North Korean to defect. As of July 30, his contact with the outside world has been severed for no less than 123 days. Not even so much as an interview has been permitted, so the state of his health cannot be confirmed.
Seoul again requested an interview and his early release during June’s Kaesong Complex working group meetings. Ultimately, however, unable to set a date for subsequent negotiations and with contact between the two sides proceeding at a snail’s pace, a resolution remained as far away as it ever was.
So, due to North Korea’s high-handed actions, resolving the issue at the governmental level has now become all but impossible, and with the duration of his detention growing longer by the day, the concerns of domestic and international human rights organizations have intensified.
The Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights has recently started a nationwide campaign to urge for Yoo’s release, and Amnesty International issued a statement on the 26th requesting that members from around the world submit a petition requesting his release to the North Korean authorities.
Regardless, North Korea experts think it will be hard to find a solution in the near future due to the current North Korean diplomatic offensive against the South.
In particular, the prevailing belief is that North Korea, which is laboring under tough international economic sanctions after multiple missiles launches and a second nuclear test, is unlikely to relinquish Yoo, or Laura Ling and Euna Lee for that matter, without some form of compensation.
Consequently, some experts think that progress in U.S.-North Korea relations will determine the first steps towards resolving the Yoo issue. However, given the U.S.’ blank refusal to consider the North’s recent request for bilateral talks, it is unlikely that this will go smoothly either.
It is highly likely that North Korea, which is growing increasingly isolated from the international community, is focusing on its unsuccessful attempts to negotiate bilaterally with the U.S., which holds the “key” to dissolving the sense of threat perceived in Pyongyang. In other words, inter-Korean relations, including the issue of Yoo, are on the back burner as far as North Korea is concerned.
This analysis is backed up by the fact that, these days, North Korea continues to mount offensives against South Korea, despite the fact that the latter has showed flexibility in sending humanitarian aid, and that North Korea refused to allow the Korean Sharing Movement, which counts Grand National Party legislator Chung Eui Hwa among its members, to visit the North on the 29th.
Yoo Ho Yeol, a professor at Korea University, predicted, “Negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea regarding the detained American reporters will serve as the yardstick for resolving the Yoo issue. North Korea will express its position on Yoo only after negotiations with the U.S.”
