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A South Korean court on Thursday turned down the Vietnamese government's extradition request for the famed Vietnamese dissident, Chanh Huu Nguyen.

The Seoul High Court said it decided not to agree to the extradition of Nguyen.

The 57-year-old Nguyen, who was arrested by the Korean police while traveling in Seoul in April, has been hailed by supporters as a pro-democracy leader determined to free Vietnam from communism, but Hanoi has long stigmatized him as a terrorist and demanded his extradition.

"Nguyen is accused of being involved in 13 attempted terrorist acts in Vietnam, but the (South Korean) court has finally decided to regard him as a political prisoner in consideration of a bilateral extradition treaty," the court said in its ruling.

"Vietnam is not a signatory of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism," it noted, dismissing the prosecution's claims that Nguyen should be an exception to the principle of non-extradition of political prisoners.

Under the bilateral extradition treaty, the local prosecution is barred from appealing Nguyen's case to the Supreme Court.

On being released from a Seoul detention facility at around 4:00 p.m., Nguyen told reporters, "I have believed in South Korea's judicial system, and now I am grateful to the South Korean court for its fair ruling."

He added, "I have worked all of my life for Vietnamese people and will continue to do so for democracy and human rights in Vietnam."

Kwon Yong-suk, Nguyen's South Korean attorney, welcomed the court ruling, saying, "The court made the right decision in terms of justice and human rights. It will reaffirm South Korea's international status as a country that upholds human rights."

Nguyen made no mention of his next destination but his attorney Kwon hinted at Nguyen's return to the U.S. in the near future.

Nguyen, who moved to the United States after escaping from a Vietnamese prison in 1982, founded a Vietnamese government-in-exile, called the Government of Free Vietnam, in Los Angeles and began a campaign to democratize his homeland. After once heading the government-in-exile, he now serves as secretary-general of its political organ, the Vietnam National Party.

Hanoi has repeatedly accused Nguyen of pulling wires behind plots to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2001, and a nationally cherished statue of Vietnam's founding leader Ho Chi Minh, between 1999 and 2000.

Korean law bars the deportation of a foreigner for political reasons.

The reason for Nguyen's South Korea trip has not been fully revealed, but his government-in-exile claims that he was on "a trip representing the U.S. International Mission to fight human trafficking," a cause he was said to have founded.

Media reports in Seoul said that his trip to South Korea was believed to be aimed at raising funds for his campaign against Vietnam's communist regime.

On June 4, about 7,000 supporters rallied in Los Angeles to call for Nguyen's release, according to supporters.
Seoul, July 27 (Yonhap News)