Activist for NK defectors says China used physical abuse on him

North Korea human rights activist Kim Young-hwan claimed Wednesday that he suffered physical abuse by Chinese interrogators over his 113-day detention in China for endangering the country`s national security.

In a news conference in central Seoul, Kim said he refused pressure from China’s National Security Ministry to admit violation of Chinese law and keep mum about the ministry’s physical abuse of him when he returned to Korea.

“When I was detained, I was going to speak of the physical abuse in my trial,” he said. “I had a very difficult time because China forced me to work 13 hours a day.” Asked if Chinese authorities prevented him from sleeping while putting physical pressure on him, he said, “They did both.”

Choi Hong-jae, a spokesman for a group that campaigned for Kim’s release, told the news conference that Yoo Jae-gil, 43, who was arrested and released together with Kim, was unable to join the conference because of bad health caused by sleeping while sitting for nearly a month.

Kim declined to elaborate on the physical abuse he went through, however, saying, “If China’s human rights issues are highlighted, North Korea human rights issues will be overshadowed.”

Prior to the news conference, he told a South Korean consul about his physical abuse in a July 11 interview. South Korea`s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador in Seoul the following day to demand a verification of Kim’s statements.

Seoul also summoned the Chinese deputy ambassador in Seoul, urging Beijing to launch a fact-finding investigation into Kim’s allegations.

"I believe that the incident (his arrest) was linked to North Korea’s State Security Department,” Kim said. “Officials from China’s National Security Ministry officials also knew little of who I was.”

“They told me that they arrested one of my colleagues detained together (with Kim) for protection because (the colleague) was under intensive surveillance by North Korean security agents,” he said, adding he was arrested together with the colleague.

“Later, I learned that seven to 10 other people including Chinese and South Koreans were rounded up the same day I was arrested.”

On why he was in China, Kim said he went to the country to “encourage and support” those whom he had known for a long time. “I had no particular purpose,” he claimed, denying rumors that he was seeking to help a senior North Korean official defect to South Korea.

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