February 22, 1999
Web posted at: 5:36 a.m. EST (1036 GMT)

In this story: Creating harmony, boosting economy Prisoners of conscience freed Flower of unification RELATED STORIES, SITES

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- A 71-year-old North Korean who has spent 41 years in prison could walk out a free man on Thursday, under an amnesty announced by South Korea on Monday.

Nearly 9,000 offenders are expected to benefit from the amnesty, although not all will gain immediate freedom.

Woo Yong-gak, a former North Korean soldier who is believed to be the world's longest-serving political prisoner, would be one of 17 prisoners released on humanitarian grounds on Thursday.

Woo, convicted in 1958 after leading a North Korean commando unit into South Korea, would gain freedom under an amnesty to mark President Kim Dae-jung's first year in office.

"The amnesty was granted to create harmony among the Korean people and give an opportunity to everyone to participate in an effort to help the economy recover," Justice Minister Park Sang-cheon told reporters.

The amnesty covers 8,812 offenders. Some 1,508 will be released on parole, 12 will have their sentences reduced and 7,292 will get their civil rights back, Park said.

Human rights groups had urged Kim -- once a political prisoner himself under South Korean military regimes -- to release the 17 sick and elderly long-term prisoners, held in solitary confinement for between 28 and 41 years.

Most of them were convicted of espionage or other activities linked to North Korea.

"Amnesty International and domestic and foreign human rights groups have urged us for many years to free the long-term political prisoners," Park said.

Last August, 94 so-called prisoners of conscience were freed after they signed an oath to respect the National Security Law, used to jail people for expressing communist beliefs. The 17 long-term prisoners refused to do so and remained in jail.

Capitalist South Korea and the communist North remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a now fraying truce rather than a peace agreement.

Park said the government believed the 17 prisoners could not take the oath for fear that North Korea would hurt their family members in the North.

He also said they were no longer a threat to Korean society because of their old age, but added that they would be under a security watch.

Park said 2,733 other prisoners, convicted of political or labor-related offences and jailed before President Kim took office last February 25, would have their civil rights restored.

Among them is Lim Su-gyong, who has been labelled "The flower of Unification."

Lim caused a sensation a decade ago when she returned to South Korea across the heavily militarised frontier after making a secret trip to North Korea.

The South Korea government prohibits unauthorised visits to North Korea, and the pretty coed served three and half years in jail afterward.

Also covered in the amnesty are 1,840 people who defaulted on loans as a result of a massive number of bankruptcies during the financial crisis that engulfed the country starting in late 1997.

Park said 2,693 people who have been unable to pay fines after losing their jobs would have those penalties waived.

Former president Kim Young-sam's son Kim Hyun-chul is not included in the amnesty. He is on bail pending an appeal against a three-year jail sentence for bribery and tax evasion.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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