Son of South Korean missionary detained in North Korea appeals for international support

The son of a South Korean Christian missionary who has remained detained in North Korea for 10 years has appealed for international support to address issues involving detainees while meeting with key human rights figures in Europe, the country's unification ministry said on Friday. 

Choi Jin-young, the son of missionary Choi Chun-gil, made the appeal during his visits to Brussels, Geneva and Berlin ahead of the fourth Universal Periodic Review, scheduled for November 7 to discuss human rights in North Korea, reports Yonhap news agency.

Choi has been detained in North Korea since his arrest in 2014 on charges of spying for South Korea's intelligence agency, along with two other missionaries, Kim Jung-wook and Kim Kook-kie, who were detained in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

In Brussels on Monday, Choi met with Olof Skoog, the European Union's special representative for human rights, seeking assistance in delivering letters from the families of the three detainees and confirming their survival.

The ministry said that Skoog pledged to make every possible effort to address the matter, stressing the importance of sustained efforts to raise awareness of the North Korean human rights issue and hold the country accountable.

The same day, he also met separately with Willy Fautre, executive director of Human Rights Without Frontiers International, who promised his support in raising international awareness about the detainees' dire situations and the suffering endured by their families.

While attending the International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights in Geneva from Tuesday-Wednesday, Choi also held meetings with senior officials from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN's Working Groups on Arbitrary Detention and Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, requesting international support on the issue.

Since affirming mutual efforts to resolve issues involving detainees, abductees and prisoners of war (POWs) in North Korea during a summit meeting of the South Korean, American and Japanese leaders in August 2023 in Camp David, Maryland, the unification ministry has established a ministerial task force and expanded efforts, the ministry said.

Marking the 10th anniversary of the detention of the two South Korean missionaries, the ministry said that it will make every effort to resolve issues involving detainees, abductees and POWs in the North, in cooperation with the international community.