Seoul pays tribute to North Korean defector
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SEOUL, OCT 11 -
South Korea paid tribute on Monday to the highest-ranking North Korean defector ever to flee, praising the late Hwang Jang-Yop for his efforts to speak out against rights abuses by Pyongyang.
Hwang, a former tutor to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il before defecting to the South in 1997, was found dead at his home in Seoul on Sunday but police said they do not suspect foul play.
"We regard very highly his efforts... to improve North Korea's human rights situation, overhaul and open its society and reunify the two Koreas," South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-Sung told reporters.
Hwang, 87, became a vocal critic of the North's regime and its dynastic succession since he fled the state where he once served as the ruling communist party's secretary, drawing constant death threats from Pyongyang.
The North had described Hwang, who lived under police guard at a secret address, as a "traitor and human scum" and previously warned that he would "not be safe anywhere".
A Seoul police spokesman said on Sunday that a security guard found Hwang dead in his bathtub. He had no external injuries.
"So far there is nothing to suspect that he was murdered," the spokesman said, adding an autopsy would be carried out.
YTN television quoted sources as saying Hwang apparently suffered a heart attack. Yonhap news agency said there was no sign of a forced entry.
Posted on: 2010-10-11 10:06
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