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Free Im Su-Kyung and Fr. Kyu-Hyun

By VVAW

Their "crime" was their desire for peace in Korea

South Korean student Im Su-Kyung and Catholic Father, Moon Kyu-Hyun, broke the cold war status quo of Korea's division when they returned to South Korea from the north of August 15, 1989, by walking across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that has separated Korea at the 38th parallel for the last 40 years. They were detained by the U.S. Army which patrols the southern side of the DMZ, and then handed over to South Korea's Agency for National Security planning for arrest.

Ms Im and Fr Moon were immediately imprisoned and placed on trial for violation of South Korea's controversial National Security Law which forbids virtually all contacts with North Korea and carries the death penalty for the most severe infractions.

Ms Im traveled to North Korea last June to participate in the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students representing South Korea's leading student organization, the National Council of College Student Representatives.

While there, Ms Im also joined 400 international delegates from 30 countries, including the 16 that fought in the Korean War under the United National flag, in an international March for Peace and Reunification of Korea.

On June 30, 1989, Ms Im declared her intention to return to South Korea by crossing the DMZ on July 27, 1989, the 36th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice to which the U.S. North Korea and China were signatories. Noticing that Ms Im, a Catholic, had placed her life at risk, the South Korean Association of Catholic Priests for Realization of Social Justice sent Fr Moon Ky-Hyun to accompany her across the DMZ.

Fr Moon told international Peace March delegates, "I share this place with Su-Kyung ready to die with her because we are determined to advance vigorously 'til the day of reunification when all of us become one, with her warm love of the nation alive in the hearts of the whole nation."

The United Nations Command, represented at the DMZ by the U.S. Army, refused their request to come home through the DMZ on July 27. The two then staged a six-day hunger strike supported by delegates of the International Peace march, during which time Ms Im proclaimed: "On August 15, I will come again and I will cross; it will be my final and decisive attempt; I will risk everything."

By their actions Ms Im and Fr Moon have come to symbolize the desire of the Korean people, in both the north and south, to achieve the peaceful reunification of their country free of interference from foreign powers.

They have joined the ranks of over 1300 political prisoners in South Korea who have been detained for violation of the National Security Law and related security statutes.

DEMANDS

Noting the irony that Ms Im Su-Kyung and Fr Moon Kyu-Hyun have been sentenced to 10 and 8 years in prison for their act of national reconciliation while the West applauds the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and...

That the U.S. Army, under the aegis of the United Nations Command, enforces Korea's division on behalf of the South Korean government by stationing its troops and nuclear weapons in the south and by its outright command of the South Korean Army...

We the undersigned applaud the courage of Ms Im and Fr Moon, condemn the role played by the U.S. Army and the United Nations Command in facilitating their arrest by the South Korean government, and demand their immediate release.

We join the Korean people in calling of the draconian National Security Law enforced primarily to imprison Koreans for their desires to achieve the peaceful and independent reunification of their country, and...

We call upon President George Bush, the Congress of the U.S. and United Nations Secretary General Mr. Perez de Cuellar to create international conditions favorable to peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula by replacing the Korean War Armistice with a permanent Peace Treaty dissolving the United Nations Command and withdrawing U.S. troops and nuclear weapons from South Korea.