[imText1]
\nNorth Korea has alleged that Shin Suk Ja, the wife of Dr. Oh Gil Nam and subject of the \u2018Daughter of Tongyeong\u2019 campaign that made waves in South Korean society during 2011, is dead and that her daughters have no interest in meeting their father. <\/p>\n
The response was revealed by the secretariat of the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), which has been leading the fight to save Shin, at a press conference in Seoul this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Representing the first official North Korean confirmation of anything related to Shin\u2019s whereabouts since the campaign began, the information emerged on April 27th, pursuant to a letter from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention sent on March 1st this year. The North Korean response was sent by DPRK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ri Jang Gon. <\/p>\n
According to the written response, Shin died “of the hepatitis she suffered since the 1980s,” and moreover, \u201cThe two daughters of Mrs. Shin do not regard Mr. Oh as their father since he abandoned his family and drove their mother to her death. They strongly refused to deal with Oh and asked not to bother them anymore.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to underline that the case mentioned in your letter has nothing to do with arbitrary detention,\u201d Ri went on.<\/p>\n
However, the North Korean reply did not contain any concrete evidence of Shin\u2019s death, nor imply that any is about to be made available. Therefore, Dr, Oh is unbowed. \u201cThis is just the typical response that North Korea has been giving to kidnapping issues,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a lie, and a North Korean written response without evidence cannot be accepted as an official document.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no objective evidence to date whether Hye Won and Kyu Won are free, and whether they reject meeting their father,\u201d he went on. \u201cThe North Korean authorities should demonstrate that my two daughters are not being forcibly detained and that they do not want to meet me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe North Korean authorities must offer concrete information as to why Dr. Oh\u2019s wife died,\u201d the ICNK Secretariat added in its own comment. \u201cThey have to show the certificate of death and return her remains to Dr. Oh.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[imText1] North Korea has alleged that Shin Suk Ja, the wife of Dr. Oh Gil Nam and subject of the \u2018Daughter of Tongyeong\u2019 campaign that made waves in South Korean society during 2011, is dead and that her daughters have no interest in meeting their father. The response was revealed by the secretariat of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":19536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n