Korea: "Return My Wife" Rescue Drive Announced

Korean citizen Mr. Kwack Byung-ho and Ko Sung-nyo, an ethnic Korean woman in China, were married on May the 18th 2003 in China. When Ms. Ko Sung-nyo did paperwork to go to Korea, her passport application was denied several times by the Chinese public security institutions because she refused to give up her practice of Falun Gong. She was then unlawfully abducted on May the 7th 2004. In response to this, a non-governmental "Ko Sung-nyo Rescue Committee" was established on August the 14th 2004 in Korea. A rescue drive entitled, "Return my wife" thus began.

On August the 24th, the "Ko Sung-nyo Rescue Committee" held a press conference at the Korea Centre for Speech and Finance. Ms. Ko's husband and elder sister described how Ms. Ko was arrested and detained in China to the eight media outlets and three human rights organisations attending the conference. They also answered reporters' questions.

Press conference room	A reporter asking questions

Mr. Kwack Byung-ho was unable to determine what crimes his wife has committed: "According to my father-in-law, when my wife was arrested, she was tortured. There were many wounds and bruises on her body, and her face was also swollen. Therefore the police did not allow my wife to meet with family members. I can't understand why people would be imprisoned simply because they practise cultivation. What exactly have Falun Gong practitioners done wrong? It's ridiculous that they are imprisoned without doing anything wrong. If someone is arrested for stealing or beating others, I can understand that. But I can't tolerate nor can I understand that people would be arrested and detained simply because they practise Falun Gong."

Ms. Ko Sung-nyo's elder sister was very worried and said, "My younger sister has to do hard labour from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the labour camp. It is very hard, and during the process, I don't know how many times she was beaten up..."

Delivering petition letters to different governmental offices

A policy-making member of the "Ko Sung-nyo Rescue Committee" remarked, "There are no legal grounds for Ms. Ko to be arrested and detained. The arrest is an illegal act. In order to urge the Chinese government to release Ko Sung-nyo as soon as possible, we will follow this incident and raise the public awareness of the human rights violations that are taking place in China."