Today marks the 4,000th day that South Korean Missionary Kim Jung-Wook has been detained by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Mr. Kim, along with five other South Koreans, is believed to remain in detention in the DPRK, some of them having been incarcerated for more than 10 years.
We urge the DPRK to immediately release all those who have been denied fair public trials and are subjected to unjust or arbitrary detention. The U.S. remains gravely concerned about the lack of transparency, fairness, and accountability within the DPRK’s judicial system. The DPRK regime continues to systematically violates and abuses their human rights of people in North Korea.
The DPRK’s practice of unjustly detaining missionaries and perceived political opponents is a blatant attempt to curtail freedom of religion or belief, silence individuals, and limit access to outside information. We condemn the DPRK’s systemic violations and abuses of human rights and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those unjustly detained in North Korea.
