A Statement regarding the Request of the Arrest Warrant for Jitae Kim, the Chairman of
Paengsung Countermeasurement Committee
by 92 people from the various sectors of the civil society
urging to the solution of conflicts surrounding the US base expansion in PT
June 7th, 2006
1. There has been the arrest warrant issued to Jitae Kim, the chairman of PCC for his refusal to accept the summons. On July 5th, he volunteered to appear in the Pyungtaek police station. The prosecutor requested the arrest warrant to the court before noon on 7th.
2. The role of the resident representative has become more and more important, as the conversation between residents and the police started. In order to dissipate the accumulated misunderstandings between them, the resident representative has to play his role in a productive way. The reason that Mr. Kim, the resident representative volunteered to go to the police station is, we think, because he may have thought that as long as he had an illegal status he was not in a position to play a role of resident representative.
3. A delegate constituted by around a dozen of figures from '92 people from the various sectors of the civil society' visited the Daechuri village in Pyungtaek and had an interview with some interested parties from Pan-S.Korea Solution Committee against the US Base Extension in Pyungtaek at 3-5:00 pm on May 22nd, 2006.
4. A majority of residents we met on that day made complaints to restraints imposed upon their representative and expressed the sense of distrust of the public power. We ascertained that the residents obviously had trust in Mr. Kim and that he should be central to the prospective conversation between residents and the government.
5. The judgement upon whether Mr. Kim will be detained is for the prosecutor who requested an arrest warrant and the court which will decide about it. And everything must correspond to the constitutional government. If there is little possibility that he may destroy evidence or run away, we suggest, it would be desirable to let him participate in the conversation with the government, as a resident representative. The government must consider seriously whether it would be right to detain the representative of residents, particulary given that the Prime Minister has made a public announcement that she would have positive conversations with residents, and that they are willing to have conversation with the government. Last week, the conversation between residents and the government resumed. If as a result of the detention of the resident representative residents should lapse into a sense of deprivation and distrust in the course of the fragile recovery of trust, the possible conflicts would make every party lost.
6. If it is possible that Mr. Kim would be able to play a role of the resident representative, being under investigation without detention, it would be a victory to the government, residents, and the constitutional ruling. We are requiring the court to be careful and serious about issuing the arrest warrant.
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