In an eerie echo of the treatment meted out to dissidents by South Korea¡¯s authoritarian regimes, conservative groups say they were kept under close surveillance during joint North-South Korean Liberation Day festivities and prevented from attending rallies earlier this week.
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Conservative groups rally to call on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program during a Liberation Day demonstration at Gwanghwamun, Seoul on Monday.
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Doh Hee-yun, the head of the Citizens' Coalition for Human Rights for Abductees and North Korean Refugees, said Thursday two inspectors from Mapo Police Station followed him from morning to night during the celebrations. He said the inspectors tailed him by car and even followed him into a restaurant but when challenged would only say it was an order from Seoul Metropolitan Police. Choi Sung-yong, the head of an activist group for families of South Koreans abducted by North Korea, said officers from Songpa Police Station followed him all the way into the countryside, where he was visiting his mother in hospital.
Park Chan-sung, who chairs the Citizens Coalition to Stop the Nuclear Development of North Korea, said two-man police teams kept a tight watch on six or seven of the group's leaders, conducted body searches and confiscated pamphlets and picket signs. He said police confined some to their homes, and on Monday police cars blocked both alley entrances to the group's office. The head of the Free Citizens Alliance for Korea, Kim Gu-bu, said after the group demonstrated against the North Korean delegation's visit to the National Cemetery on Sunday, police tailed some 50 of the group's members until Wednesday, with five or six plainclothes officers loitering near the group's office all day.
Park Chan-sung demanded, "Can one permit leftists to take their metal pipes and head to Pyeongtaek for a demonstration at a U.S. military base¡± as happened in July ¡°but prevent us from going to express our opinion without even a single weapon?" He said he would lodge complaints against the officers responsible.
The groups planned to demonstrate at places visited by the North Korean delegation, including the National Cemetery, Gwanghwamun, the World Cup Stadium, Jangchungdan Park and Incheon Airport. Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan on Aug. 8 announced zero tolerance of groups attempting to desecrate or burn the North Korean flag.
However, a police spokesman said the measures were taken to ensure the success of the joint Liberation Day celebrations. He denied they constituted detention or surveillance, saying they only aimed to prevent clashes between conservative and progressive groups at protest sites or places the North Korean delegation was visiting. He said the police had no legal mandate to tail or watch the groups and sought only to make sure the events went ahead smoothly.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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