N. Korea’s first amnesty to be made next month

North Korea announced to grant pardons to prisoners for the first time in three years, marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the regime on Sept. 9. Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, released a decree issued by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly on the first page on Monday.

“In celebration of the 70th founding anniversary, we will give special amnesty to those convicted of committing crimes against the country and its people,” according to the North Korean news agency. The newspaper added that the cabinet and relevant national agencies would take practical measures to ensure that those to be released lead a normal working life with stability and security. The decree was promulgated on Thursday and the relevant amnesty will go into effect on Aug. 1.

Nevertheless, neither the range of those to be amnestied nor the scale of amnesty has been mentioned by North Korea. Some experts carefully speculate that if pardons are given to political prisoners, six South Korean prisoners can be possibly set free, who have been detained after being convicted of the crime of conspiracy to subvert the state or the crime of espionage by the North.


In-Chan Hwang hic@donga.com