By Chris Fuchs
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) told the South Korean ambassador last week the Queens man charged with violating the Asian country’s National Security Law should be released if he is only charged with supporting the publication of a book.
Sam Song, a naturalized citizen who lives in Rockaway, was arrested in Seoul in February for supporting the publication of a book that advocates the reunification of the Koreas under the plan of North Korean President Kim Jong Il. Prosecutors in Seoul opened their case on April 17 but adjourned it until May 24.
Song, who lives with his wife and two children in Rockaway, owns a candy shop in Brooklyn. In addition, he runs a political organization in Flushing that advocates the reunification of the Koreas, which have been separated into two regimes since 1948.
Ackerman’s meeting with the South Korean ambassador, Sung Chul Yang, came nearly a month after the ambassador abruptly canceled a meeting scheduled in Washington, D.C. Ackerman said that during last week’s meeting he emphasized that Song should be freed if the charges accuse him only of supporting the book.
“The ambassador assured me that Mr. Song is regularly visited by U.S. consulate officials and that his human and civil rights are strictly observed,” the congressman said. “Ambassador Yang also agreed to a request that his government expedite the handling of Song’s case as a priority.”
In early April, the South Korean government handed up an indictment in which Song was charged with violating two articles of the National Security Law in South Korea, said Christopher Lamora, a spokesman for the State Department in Washington.
The first article under which Song was charged accused him of “infiltration from or escape to an area under the control of an anti-government organization,” an allegation that stems from a trip Song took to North Korea apparently to visit his brother, Lamora said.
The second, which stems from Song’s supporting a book on reunification written by a Japanese man that is sympathetic to North Korea, accuses him of “publishing and distributing materials praising the activities of an anti-government organization.”
Nearly a month ago, Ackerman and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell asking the State Department to take a role in the case. The letter went on to say that if the charges against Song included only his support of a book he should be released.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
