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Korean Confederation of Trade Unions president Han Sang-gyun puts on a headband as he leaves the Jogye Order of Buddhism in Seoul’s Jongno district

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which is affiliated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), described the detention of Han Sang-gyun, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), on charges of organizing public assemblies in 2015 as an “arbitrary detention” that violates the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The working group also recommended that Han be released.

“The South Korean government‘s detention of Han Sang-gyun constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty that is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The government should immediately release Han and compensate him according to international law,” the working group urged in its 78th Opinion, which it adopted on Apr. 25. “There should be a thorough and independent investigation into the reasons for Han’s detention, and appropriate measures should be taken against those responsible.”

The working group has concluded in the past that North Korean defectors who have been forcibly repatriated to the North and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, are victims of arbitrary detention. While international human rights and labor groups have continued to recommend Han‘s release, the working group’s opinion appears to be the most authoritative of these recommendations.

“The South Korean government has deprived Han Sang-gyun of his liberty because he exercised the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly, which are guaranteed in Article 19 and Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and this constitutes arbitrary detention,” the working group stated in its opinion. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” while Article 20 states that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”

After being put in jail on the charge of orchestrating illegal activities in a total of 13 demonstrations, including the popular indignation rally in Dec. 2015, Han was sentenced to five years in prison by a district court. In Dec. 2016, his sentence was reduced to three years on appeal. “There was evidence of serious violence at the time of the popular indignation rally, with some protesters tying ropes to police buses and pulling them down and others trying to set fire to the gas tanks of vehicles that police officers were in. Han bears a heavy responsibility for instigating such illegal behavior,” the court concluded.

“Before the demonstration, the police told the KCTU that they were willing to cooperate with the demonstration on a limited basis, but the KCTU rejected their offer. [Therefore] it was legal for the police to ultimately ban the demonstration,” the court added.

But the working group concluded that the “South Korean government‘s bans on demonstrations and its restrictions on locations are not legal restrictions according to international law.”

“Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights only allows restrictions on assemblies that are proportional to their purpose and that are ’imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.‘ Banning or outlawing assemblies because they interfere with traffic or with citizens’ daily lives does not meet the requirements for legitimate restrictions on assemblies,” the working group said.

In Aug. 2016, the South Korean government submitted an opinion to the working group in which it stated that “Han organized the demonstration in violation of the Assembly and Demonstration Act and committed violence against the police,” but the working group did not accept this claim. “The South Korean government failed to provide adequate evidence to show that Han collected tools to carry out acts of violence and did in fact carry out violence during the popular indignation rally, thus forfeiting his right to peaceful assembly. The South Korean government submitted a large number of photographs taken during the rally and explained that two of them showed Han Sang-gyun attacking the police, but it is not clear which of the people in the photographs is Han or whether he is actually attacking the police,” the working group said.

“Assembly organizers must not be held responsible for the illegal actions of other people. That violates the principle of the freedom of the individual and weakens trust and cooperation between assembly organizers, assembly participants and government officials, hindering potential assembly organizers from exercising their rights,” the working group also said.

In related news, the Supreme Court is scheduled to make its final ruling on Han’s case on May 31.　

By Jung Eun-joo and Park Tae-woo, staff reporters

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