AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL



Public Statement


AI Index: ASA 25/004/2003 (Public)
News Service No: 233
10 October 2003


Republic of Korea (South Korea): The revised Terrorism
Prevention Bill: fear
of increased human rights abuses

Amnesty International is concerned that the government of
South Korea is
reportedly set to introduce and put to vote a revised version
of the
Terrorism Prevention Bill in October 2003.

Amnesty International acknowledges that the South Korean
government has a
right and duty to protect the rights and safety of people
within its
territory; however any legislation or action adopted and
implemented must
conform to international human rights standards.

Amnesty International calls on the South Korean government to
ensure that
the Terrorism Prevention Bill (referred to hereafter as "the
Bill") and
other national security measures fully conform with
international human
rights standards.

Amnesty International welcomes the removal of provisions in
the revised
draft of the Bill which extended the application of the death
penalty.
Amnesty International had raised deep concern on this aspect
of the Bill in
its April 2002 report, Republic of Korea: "Terrorism
Prevention Bill:
Granting greater scope for human rights violations," (ASA
25/003/2002).

However, Amnesty International remains concerned that several
provisions in
the revised Bill give scope for increased human rights
violations. The Bill
in its present form has provisions that could further empower
the National
Intelligence Service (NIS), a secretive agency about which
Amnesty
International has expressed concern because of its
responsibility for some
of the most serious human rights violations. For instance,
Article 4 of the
Bill provides for the creation of a Counter-Terrorism Centre
to be
"established under the command of the Director of the National
Intelligence
Service." There is concern among human rights defenders in
South Korea that
this centre will be set up as part of the NIS giving the
agency widened
scope for greater human rights violations. Amnesty
International calls on
the South Korean government to avoid enactment of any
legislation that would
further empower an organization such as the NIS in that it
could increase
the possibility of human rights violations.

Amnesty International is also concerned that the Terrorism
Prevention Bill
appears to deny the right of non-citizens who are suspected of
being
"terrorists" to apply for asylum. Article 8 of the revised
Bill gives
authority to the head of the Counter-Terrorism Centre to
request the
deportation of foreign nationals without having their claims
for asylum
assessed through fair and satisfactory procedures. The
Counter-Terrorism
Centre is under the command of the NIS, further increasing the
power of the
NIS in recommending the deportation of foreign nationals. This
provision
increases the risk of refoulement - a breach of the obligation
under the
1951 Refugee Convention and UN Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention
against Torture)
not to return anyone to a country where they may suffer
serious human rights
abuses such as torture or the death penalty. South Korea is a
state party to
both the Refugee Convention and Convention against Torture.
Amnesty
International urges the South Korean government to ensure that
national
security legislation, including the Terrorism Prevention Bill,
does not
undermine the right of non-citizens to seek asylum and that
asylum seekers
are not deported without having their claims for protection
assessed through
fair and satisfactory procedures.

Amnesty International is also concerned with vaguely worded
clauses of the
Bill such as Article 13 which deals with false reports or
spreading wrong
information regarding terrorism. While Amnesty International
recognises that
action may need to be taken against hoax reports, there is
concern that
there are few safeguards if there is false reporting through
genuine
mistakes or by people with mental health problems. Amnesty
International is
also concerned that Article 13 could be used to increase
surveillance on
political activists, and greater government monitoring of the
means of
communication used by activists and civil society in general,
increasing the
potential for human rights abuses.

The Bill in its current form has raised serious concern in the
human rights
community in South Korea. It contains provisions which
directly contravene
international human rights treaties to which South Korea is a
party. At the
same time, many of its provisions appear to be clearly open to
abuse by law
enforcement officials without providing adequate safeguards
against such
abuse.


Background


Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA, the NIS
announced on 12
November 2001 that the South Korean government was set to
enact the
Terrorism Prevention Bill. The government argued the Bill was
justified as a
measure to increase security during the June 2002 World
Football Games and
the September 2002 Asian Games, but failed to secure the
requisite number of
votes when the Bill was put to the National Assembly in April
2002. At that
time some 90 NGOs expressed concern about the Bill, and the
National Human
Rights Commission stated that the circumstances the government
used to
justify the Bill simply did not exist. They still do not
exist.

Amnesty International has consistently raised concern about
the NIS which
has committed a pattern of human rights violations under
national security
legislation like the National Security Law (in force since
December 1948)..
In 1999, Amnesty International called on the South Korean
government "to
curb abuses by the intelligence agency" which "has been
responsible for some
of the most serious human rights violations in South Korea,
including
torture of political suspects." In a 1998 report (AI Index:
ASA
25/022/1998), Amnesty International called for the release of
at least 15
long-term political prisoners who were convicted unfairly and
on politically
motivated charges during the 1970s and 1980s, most of whom
were sentenced to
life imprisonment under the National Security Law on charges
of spying for
North Korea. The organization stated that "(t)heir cases
follow a consistent
pattern of illegal arrest, incommunicado detention, torture
and coerced
confessions, mostly carried out by the Agency for National
Security Planning
(ANSP, recently renamed as the National Intelligence
Service)". In a 1997
report (AI Index: ASA 25/023/1997), Amnesty International
quoted one of the
victims of the ANSP, Hwang Tae-kwon, a former prisoner of
conscience:
"(a)fter 60 days of torture and beatings in the basement of
the Agency for
National Security Planning and after three years of
imprisonment for a crime
I did not commit, having been silenced all these years, I hope
my story will
expose the crimes that were committed against me by the
powers-that-be in
order to extract my 'confession' ".



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