North Korea Releases Student Held Since April

 

North Korea Monday released a New York University student who had been detained for 

five months after illegally entering the country. 

Joo Won-moon, 21 is a South Korean citizen but has permanent residency status in the 

United States, where he has been living since 2001. He was apprehended on April 22 after 

he crossed into North Korea from the Chinese border town Dandong. 

In a written statement Monday, South Korea's Minist1Y of Unification said, "Under the 

name of North Korea Red Cross Central Committee, North Korea sent a letter today to 

inform that they will repatriate our citizen, Mr. JOO Won-moon." 

 

Joo was released to South Korean custody at the heavily fortified Panmunjom inter- 

Korean border crossing inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) late Monday. 

Prior to his arrest in North Korea, 100 was living in New Jersey and studying at New York 

University, but he had taken a semester off to travel. 


In May, during an interview with American news broadcaster CNN, 100 said he wanted to 

be arrested in North Korea and thought it would somehow lead to better inter-Korean 

relations. 

In September, Joo was allowed to speak to the media and in a statement that appeared to 

be coached by North Korean officials, he expressed praise for the North Korean 

government and its people. 

Choi Yong-sang, an activist with the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human 

Rights in Seoul, said Joo's release may be part of a diplomatic effort to convince the 

United States to engage with Pyongyang to ease economic sanctions. 

"His permanent residency in the United States might have played a small but significant 

role as North Korea has been continuously requesting the U.S. for talks or 

normalization," Choi said. 

 

He said there are also signs that North Korea may have decided to halt the launch of a 

satellite next week on the 70th anniversary of its ruling party to improve relations with 

China. 


And Joo's release comes ahead of a scheduled reunion later this month of families 

separated by the 1950-53 civil war that ended in an uneasy truce between the communist 

North and democratic South 

Seoul Monday also pressed for the release of three other South Korean citizens that are 

being held in the North. 

Pyongyang has accused missionary Kim Jung-wook of anti-North Korean religious acts, 

and missionary Kim Kook-ki and businessman Choi Chun-gil of spying for South Korea. 

All three were sentenced to hard labor for life. All three confessed and apologized for 

their crimes, although it is not clear if their confessions were made under duress. 

FILE - Kim Jung Wook, a South Korean Baptist missionary, speaks during a news 

conference in Pyongyang, North Korea. 

Seoul has denied the charges and criticized Pyongyang for sentencing them without a fair 

trial and access to legal counsel. 

Choi said unlike Joo, who is considered an innocent but naive student, Pyongyang 

believes the other detainees were involved in crimes against the state. 

"The one South Korean being held in North Korea is because of his religious work, and 

Other two have been arrested as they worked as a spy, which is unforgivable and 

unacceptable crime in North Korea," he said. 

North Korea is considered to be one Of the most secretive and repressive regimes in the 

world and has been accused in the past of arresting foreign nationals for politically 

motivated reasons and forcing false confessions. 

North Korea is a hot topic of debate today.

Their extremely secretive and harsh government often clashes with many nations in the modern
world. This article proves how, although not the hottest topic on the news
everyday anymore, North Korea's policies still cause quite a stir. This article
is published by Voice of America an organization you almost expect to publish
such articles. Since Joo was living in the US so long the US has personal
involvement in this issue and this probably altered the perspective and bias
from which this article was written. Although this article does describe the
student as naive, it puts little emphasize on the student actually willingly
going to North Korea, especially even wanting to be arrested. He might have
thought twice about this had he known the consequences. However, the article
seems to shift all the blame again on North Korea. For some this article once
again angers a personal devotion, for others it justifies the hate against
North Korea. This article out for all of the world (but primarily Americans
read it) seems to be a bias against North Korea and yet so relieved and the
release of their lost individual. It also almost makes it seem that in some
senses North Korea is turning for the better, but once again this is sharply
contrasted when they mention the unwillingness of other prisoners' release.
Overall this article touches at a very debated topic still today, North Korea,
its policies, government and what should be done.




http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korea-to-free-university-student-detained-since-april/2991675.html