SOUTH KOREA: A South Korean missionary arrested by Russia on fees of spying was despatched to do purely humanitarian and missionary work and had no position in serving to North Korean staff defect, the top of his Christian assist group mentioned. Ties between Russia and South Korea have been more and more strained by Moscow’s rising relations with North Korea amid accusations that Pyongyang has equipped munitions for the battle in Ukraine. The case was the primary involving a South Korean arrested in Russia on accusations of espionage, Russian state information company TASS mentioned, giving his identify as Baek Kwang-soon, 53, though in an English-language report it used the identify Baek Received-soon. However the accusation of espionage was “totally absurd” and “completely untrue”, mentioned Rev Lee Solar-gu, chief of the World Love Rice Sharing Basis, which lists Baek on its web site as the top of its mission within the Russian metropolis of Vladivostok. “He was a conscientious and deeply religious person appointed by the group to help migrant labourers, the poor and people in hardship,” Lee informed Reuters. “Fifty percent of our work is aiding the needy and fifty percent of our work is mission. That’s it,” he mentioned, including that the group, based mostly within the port metropolis of Incheon, despatched drugs and garments to Russia to help Baek. “It’s totally absurd and I think it’s some kind of a setup,” Lee mentioned of the espionage cost. Lee final heard from Baek on Dec. 30 by way of a cellular message providing new greetings and wishing him good well being, although the latter didn’t learn or reply to a Jan 24 message from Lee. TASS quoted legislation enforcement companies as saying Baek had been detained within the far japanese metropolis of Vladivostok earlier than being transferred to Moscow for “investigative actions”. Lee mentioned Kwang-soon was an alias utilized by Baek, consistent with a customized amongst missionaries who work in sure nations. Baek used to work in China earlier than shifting to Vladivostok, Lee mentioned. Lee denied a report by South Korean information company Yonhap, quoting an unnamed acquaintance, that mentioned Baek or the group helped North Korean labourers in Russia to defect. “Not at all,” he mentioned. “We have no knowledge of such activities, and if we had known that’s what he was doing, we would not have approved it. That kind of thing would put our missionaries at risk of arrest and being used for political purposes.” The help group, which has hundreds of members, will begin a marketing campaign to free Baek and petition the South Korean authorities and the Russian embassy for his launch, Lee mentioned. Baek’s arrest was more likely to intimidate missionaries serving to North Koreans at residence or abroad, he added. U.S. and South Korean officers have voiced concern that Russia has accepted new teams of North Korean staff in defiance of a U.N. decision as ties with Pyongyang blossomed. A 2017 U.N. Safety Council decision gave nations till 2019 to expel North Korean staff on the grounds that their labour was exploited to earn international foreign money for North Korea’s banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. However hundreds reportedly stay in China and Russia. Lee’s basis vets and appoints missionaries working in 69 nations after suggestions by church buildings, he mentioned. South Korea had 21,917 long-term missionaries working in 174 nations by 2023, one of many highest such figures worldwide, along with Brazil and the US, surveys present. South Korea is speaking with Russia for Baek’s return, a international ministry spokesperson mentioned on Tuesday. Because the Ukraine battle started in February 2022, South Korea has urged residents in a particular advisory to not journey to Russia.
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