Oh Kil-nam fled the communist country alone in 1986, a year after his family was lured to the North via West Germany. His escape led to the detention of his wife, Shin Suk-ja, and two daughters in a political prison camp.
The continued detention since 1987 of Shin and her two daughters "has been and is arbitrary," the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in opinions adopted at its session on May 2, according to the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea, a Seoul-based rights advocacy group.
The rights advocacy group, which petitioned the U.N. body in November to have Oh's family released, announced the U.N. document in a news conference on Tuesday.
The U.N.-mandated body that investigates cases of arbitrary detention also requested that North Korea "take necessary steps to remedy the situation, which are the immediate release of, and adequate reparation to, these persons," the rights advocacy group said.
Oh welcomed the U.N.'s step and expressed hope that he could meet with his two daughters in either South Korea or Germany.
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"There are many mountains to climb, but this is a positive development," Oh said in the news conference, referring to the difficulty of meeting his daughters in the North.
Oh also said he wanted to receive the remains of his wife if she died, as claimed by the North.
Choi Song-ryong, head of an association of families of those kidnapped by North Korea, claimed in the news conference that Oh's two daughters are being held in Pyongyang, citing an unidentified informant on the issue.
Choi, who has a track record of accurate information on South Korean abductees and soldiers taken prisoner during the 1950-53 Korean War, declined to give any further details.
The U.N. move came five days after a senior North Korean diplomat told the U.N. group Shin died of hepatitis and Oh's two daughters do not regard Oh as their father since "he abandoned his family and drove their mother to death."
Ri Jang-gon, deputy permanent representative for North Korea at the United Nations in Geneva, also claimed that the two daughters "strongly refused to deal with Oh and asked not to bother themselves anymore."
Ri also indicated Shin and her two daughters have nothing to do with arbitrary detention issues.
entropy@yna.co.kr
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