Former exile barred from leaving

The Seoul District Prosecutors Office has told former activist and exile Song Du-yul that he cannot leave the country in the next week.
The philosophy professor at Muenster University in Germany returned to his homeland on Monday after 36 years abroad.
While the government had extended an amnesty to 34 exiled political activists last week, Mr. Song, 59, was not one of them.
He turned himself in voluntarily on Tuesday to face allegations that he is a North Korean spy. While intelligence officials have questioned him, legal circles have been divided over whether to indict Mr. Song.
“The National Intelligence Agency asked for a travel ban for Mr. Song,” said the Prosecutors Office. “We thought the agency’s request was valid and approved it.”
The spy agency is investigating charges Mr. Song is actually Kim Chul-su, a member of the North Korean Workers’ Party’s Politburo, and that he lured a South Korean student in Germany to defect to the North.
Prosecutors said yesterday they would question Mr. Song after intelligence agents had investigated him.
Mr. Song left South Korea for Germany in 1967. In 1972, he launched an organization against the Park Chung Hee regime and had been banned from returning.
The current travel restriction on Mr. Song will run until Oct. 3.
Justice Minister Kang Gum-sil said recently, “Even if Mr. Song is Kim Chul-su, I am not sure we can take legal measures against him when higher-ranking [North Korean] officials are allowed to visit the South.”

by Kim Won-bae, Jeon Jin-bae