TORONTO -- WARNING: This story contains details that some may find disturbing

In a secret letter obtained by CTV News, a Korean-Canadian man imprisoned in South Korea says he is being tortured, beaten and harassed by prison personnel while serving his eight-year sentence.

Canadian citizen, Han-Min Seo, is serving eight years in Daejeon Prison for spraying his former teaching assistant and others with sulphuric acid at a lawsuit mediation meeting in 2014.

Seo sent a letter detailing specific dates and times of the alleged torture and harassment he says he is suffering at the hands of prison personnel.

The letter was sent in the guise of a gift to British author Malka Adler, where it was intercepted by staff at HarperCollins Publishing and obtained by CTV News.

CTVNews.ca authenticated Seo’s identity through local reports, court filings and information provided in the correspondence, including his prisoner number.

Below is a timeline and detailed description of his allegations sent in the letter:

  • November 27, 2020: Seo allegedly went on hunger strike after being punished by the guards for feeding pigeons.
     
  • November 30, 2020: Seo alleges he was beaten by the prison’s Critical Response Patrol Team while on the way to see a doctor. Seo said in the letter that there is CCTV of the incident and he pressed charges with the local police.
  • April 23, 2021: Seo alleges the CRPT took him to a “calming” room without notice and without reason, where they put him in “protective gear” that was binding, with handcuffs and a chain around the torso. Seo alleges that every 30 minutes he was tortured by prison employees by twisting the cuffs, and pushing on sensitive areas on his body, including his torso to make him lose air supply. He also alleges they hit him around the head, in an effort to make him retract his November 30, 2020 allegations and withdraw charges, as well as any and all administrative cases, human rights cases and civil complaints. Seo alleges he complied and signed everything put in front of him by a person he refers to as the “Grievances Team Leader” at the prison to make the torture stop.
     
  • April 26, 2021: Seo alleges that he was once again physically beaten before being sent to investigators (he was not clear on who they were). He alleges he was told by prison personnel that he should “admit to everything” or be charged with hitting an officer. Seo said he followed all instructions out of fear.
     
  • May 3, 2021: Seo alleges that he spoke to a police officer from Yuseong Police station and relayed his allegations against the prison, and that the officer asked for paperwork but Seo alleges the guards refused to assist him in this matter. Seo alleges he wrote several letters that afternoon to the Minister of Justice, South Korean President Moon Jae-In, human rights organizations and the court system, asking for help and protection. Seo alleges that CRPT then came by to threaten him about the letters.
     
  • May 4, 2021: Seo alleges he was tortured by the CRPT again on this day, when his oxygen was cut off, forcing him in and out of consciousness. He alleges that they threatened him about the letters he had written the day before.
     
  • May 10, 2021: Seo alleges he was visited by his lawyer, whom he told of these allegations, despite being “threatened” by the CRPT previously, in an area of the prison with no CCTV.
  • May 13, 2021: Seo alleges the CRPT brought him to their office and pressured him into writing the Daejeon Prosecution Office to again retract his allegations and charges stemming from the November 30 2020 incident. Seo claims he complied out of fear.

In a statement to CTVNews.ca, Global Affairs said “Canada takes allegations of torture very seriously,” and that the organization “is aware of the case of a Canadian citizen serving a prison sentence in South Korea,” and had been providing consular assistance.

In a statement emailed to CTVNews.ca Wednesday and translated from Korean, the South Korean Ministry of Justice firmly denied all of Seo’s claims, and provided a detailed rebuttal to his allegations.

  • In regards to Seo’s allegations from November 2020, the Ministry of Justice said that Seo was reprimanded for not complying with prison personnel’s orders to “not bring food out during outdoor exercise,” and what while it was true that Seo was brought to see a doctor and was accompanied by the CRPT, he was not beaten and his claim is “not true.” The statement says that CCTV is installed in the corridor of the prison’s medical department, and that a large number of inmates came and went during the time period Seo alleges being beaten. The statement says all CCTV footage was submitted to investigators.
     
  • The Ministry of Justice statement categorically denies Seo’s allegations from April 2021. It states that when CRPT was doing rounds in the prison ward, Seo responded violently with abusive language when asked to wear his prison uniform and to not lie down. The statement said that Seo swore at prison personnel and “did a threatening act of hitting the wall with his fist and swinging it” which resulted in him being put in restraints. Prison personnel “judged that there was a high risk of self-harm or harm to others, and in accordance with the relevant regulations, he [Seo] was accommodated in the protective room using protective equipment.” The statement said that while Seo “may have felt he was subjected to harsh acts,” his allegation of torture by the CRPT by cutting off his oxygen supply and of being beaten is “not true” and “just a one-sided claim without any basis.”
     
  • In another April 2021 instance, Seo was charged with using abusive language against prison personnel and during the internal investigation process, the Ministry of Justice state that Seo acknowledged his wrongdoing but then “reversed” his position. The statement said that Daejeon prison conducted an objective investigation by confirming eyewitness statements and referred the matter to their disciplinary committee, which was attended by three outside members to ensure fairness. Seo was given a “punishment.”
     
  • The statement confirms that Seo did speak to a police officer from Yuseong Station in May 2021 in regards to his allegations against the prison and CRPT, but denied that Seo was prevented from giving paperwork to the officer, and said that complaints can be given verbally to officers for investigations. The statement said that Seo requested his own letters to the Ministry of Justice, the Blue House (the official residence of Korean President Moon Jae-In) the Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office and Daejeon District Court be returned to him, which was done. The statement denies that CRPT threatened Seo about his letter.
     
  • The statement categorically denies Seo’s May 2021 allegation that the CRPT tortured him by cutting off his oxygen supply as a “one-sided and unfounded claim.”
     
  • The Ministry of Justice did confirm that the CRPT has accompanied Seo twice while his lawyer has visited, including on May 10, 2021, but that it was due to concerns that Seo would engage in “unexpected behaviour,” and that “there were no threats or verbal abuse.”

The Ministry of Justice noted that in regards to Seo’s ongoing appeal process, he has had seven meetings with his lawyer and two phone calls with the Canadian consulate in English, and that while the prison became aware of his allegations stemming from November 2020 in December that same year, they have taken “no action” to get him to drop the complaint since then.

Ending their statement, the Ministry of Justice wrote: “this is only a one-sided argument from the prisoner, and the Korean correctional institutions continually do their best to protect the human rights of prisoners.”

Daejeon prison is where conscientious objectors to South Korea’s mandatory military draft serve an alternative sentence, and the surrounding area holds some notoriety in Korean history, as it was the location of a massacre of approximately 7,000 political prisoners in 1950 during the Korean War.  

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