US professors released from North Korean detention

Two professors who taught at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) were among three United States-Korean citizens released last Wednesday from detention in North Korea, during the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to North Korea in advance of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

PUST professor Kim Hak-song had been held in North Korea on ‘suspicion of hostile’ acts for just over a year, since early May 2017, when he was reportedly detained while he was at Pyongyang railway station. He had been working at PUST’s experimental farm in the North.

PUST, the university in the North Korean capital funded by evangelical South Koreans and American-Koreans, had been doing research on natural farming, soil fertility, pesticides and food production. Last year PUST said in a statement that Kim Hak-song’s “detention is related to an investigation into matters that are not connected in any way with the work of PUST”.

Also freed was Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, a professor of accountancy at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in Yanji, China, who was detained at Pyongyang airport on more serious espionage charges from April 2017. He was leaving North Korea after a month in Pyongyang teaching accounting at PUST. He had also reportedly been involved in humanitarian work in North Korea.

Both professors were detained at a time when US-North Korea relations had become tense over North Korea’s testing of ballistic missiles.

The third to be released was Kim Dong-chul, a pastor detained in 2015 on espionage charges and sentenced the following year to 10 years’ hard labour.

In a statement last Wednesday PUST said: “The leadership and the whole international faculty and community at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology are very grateful to learn of the release of the three US-Korean citizens who have been in detention in the DPR Korea. We are especially pleased by the release of our two co-workers, Kim Sang-duk (Tony Kim) and Kim Hak-song.”

“We appreciated the contributions that Tony and Hak-song made to the teaching and development work at PUST. All three men have been daily in our thoughts; and our hopes and prayers have been fulfilled by their release.”

The university expressed the hope that the two professors “can now enjoy some peace and rest with their families and friends and begin to rebuild a normal life”.

The PUST leadership also thanked “all those who have expressed support for the university and for the detainees; and especially those who have been working for their release, including the diplomats here in Pyongyang and elsewhere”.

US citizens banned

However, US citizens are still banned from travelling to North Korea – the ban was imposed last year in the wake of the death of US student Otto Warmbier, who had been detained in North Korea. The effect of the ban was to curb many of PUST’s activities, which relied particularly on Korean-American faculty – around half the 130 foreign staff at the university had been US citizens.

Nonetheless, new opportunities may be opening up. As part of the rapprochement between North and South Korea, enhanced inter-Korean university exchanges have been mooted.

During a historic summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the border village of Panmunjom on 27 April, South Korean officials suggested that science cooperation was likely to be established between the two countries.

South Korean officials said the two Koreas could carry out joint research on plants in the North to develop products using natural plant extracts – some 1,000 plant species in the North are not prevalent in the South.

"We could also invite young scientists from the North to South Korean universities such as Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology for scientific exchanges," the Korean foreign official told local media.