Amnesty International will send its investigator this week to South Korea to probe allegations of human rights abuse here, including a violent police crackdown on the candlelight demonstrations. Progressive groups representing Christian, Buddhist, Won Buddhist and Catholic organizations plan to hold religious events in front of City Hall in Seoul until next week.

On July 2, the South Korean section of Amnesty International said, “Amnesty International has decided to send Norma Kang Muico, Amnesty International’s Korea researcher, to South Korea on July 4 to probe the South Korean government’s countermeasures against the candlelight rallies to oppose imports of U.S. beef.”

It would be the first time for the London-based human rights group to dispatch an investigator on a non-regular basis to South Korea to investigate a specific issue. In South Korea, Muico will conduct interviews and collect data to investigate cases of police violence at the rallies and a controversy over fire extinguishers deployed by police at the protest sites. In addition, the Amnesty investigator will look into the case of a 22-year-old riot police officer, who is only identified by his surname Lee and was arrested after he filed a request to perform his required military service in the Army, rather than as a riot police officer. Muico will also conduct a probe into an ongoing investigation by the South Korean Justice Ministry and prosecutors against a movement to encourage advertisers to boycott three conservative newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo, the JoongAng Ilbo and the DongA Ilbo.

On the same day, the Association of Religious People for National Reconciliation and Unification, a coalition of four religious groups that includes the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice, the National Clergy Conference for Justice and Peace, LoutsWorld and Won Buddhism’s Group for Social and Religious Affairs, said in a press conference, “We plan to hold a series of emergency masses, prayer meetings and Buddhist services in front of City Hall until next week.”

The Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice will hold an emergency mass on July 3 and LotusWorld will hold a Buddhist service on July 4. A prayer meeting led by Won Buddhism’s Group for Social and Religious Affairs is planned on July 8. The National Clergy Conference for Justice and Peace will hold a prayer meeting sometime after July 13.

Meanwhile, the 56th consecutive candlelight demonstration was held in front of City Hall on the evening of July 2, following an emergency mass led by the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice. Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who led a nationwide strike earlier in the day, participated in candlelight rallies in Seoul and other major cities such as Ulsan, Changwon, Jeonju, Incheon and Busan.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]