Exclusive: Timeline of torture allegations by Canadian imprisoned in South Korea

This composite image shows the first page of the letter sent by Seo and obtained by CTV News, with an image of the outdoor recreational area of Daejeon Prison. Note: some information has been blurred by CTV News due to privacy concerns. (CTV News/Korea Correctional Services)

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:

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.

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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