CONFIDENTIAL
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH KOREA)
Report by HM Embassy, Seoul
General Observations
The Republic of Korea was invaded and devastated only 23 years ago. There is still no peace treaty, only a military armistice; the Republic has on its northern border a Communist state which is dedicated to the reunification of Korea on its own terms and which, for no other reason, main- tains a standing army of 500,000 men and a powerful air force. The Government of the Republic of Korea take the view that the threat of invasion by the North constitutes a state of emergency which threatens the life of the nation (ie a public emergency as defined in Article 4 of the International Conven- tion on Civil and Political Rights). The existence of this emergency has been officially proclaimed. The emergency regu- lations are not inconsistent with other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.
Right No.
(i) Accused are sometimes imprisoned
for considerable periods before trial but as far as is known all prisoners, including those held under the Emergency Regulations, are eventually brought before the courts. Those charged with or convicted of "political" offences probably number fewer than 100 out of a population of 35 million.
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(ii) The use of torture is forbidden by the Constitution but there is some evidence that it has been practised by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.
(iii) No form of slavery exists in the
Republic of Korea.
(iv) Under Presidential emergency measures
intended to safeguard national security any attempt to criticise the Constitution or to seek its revision is prohibited. Political demonstrations are illegal. The
media are closely controlled but are not wholly uncritical.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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