Suh Sung
Born (1945-04-03) 3 April 1945
Kyoto, Japan
LanguageJapanese, Korean
Alma materTokyo University of Education
Seoul National University
Notable worksUnbroken Spirits: Nineteen Years in South Korea's Gulag (1994)
Notable awardsTada Yoko Human Rights Award (1994)
SpousePak Sunmi
Children2
RelativesSuh Joon-sik (brother)
Korean name
Hangul서승
Hanja徐勝
Japanese name
Kanji徐勝
Kanaソ・スン

Suh Sung (Korean: 서승; born 3 April 1945) is a Zainichi Korean academic and writer. He was previously a Professor of International Studies at Ritsumeikan University and a research advisor at the Ritsumeikan Center for Korean Studies. His specializations include contemporary Korean law and politics, human rights law in East Asia, and comparative human rights law.

Born in Kyoto to Zainichi Korean parents, Suh spent his early life in Japan before moving to South Korea to continue his postgraduate studies. In 1971, after returning from a trip to Japan to see his family, Suh was arrested by South Korean authorities and accused of being a North Korean spy. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the next 19 years in prison before being released in 1990.

Biography

Suh was born on 3 April 1945 in Kyoto, Japan, to Zainichi Korean parents. He received his elementary and secondary school education in Japan, and graduated from Tokyo University of Education in March 1968. Suh then travelled to South Korea to continue his studies at the Graduate School of Sociology at Seoul National University, during the regime of Park Chung-hee.[1]

On 18 April 1971, shortly after returning to South Korea from a trip to Japan to see his family, Suh was arrested on suspicion of being a North Korean spy and sentenced to life imprisonment.[2] While in custody and under heavy interrogation and torture, Suh lit himself on fire but survived with severe burns to his face. Suh's sentenced was reduced to 20 years on 21 December 1988, and he was released on 28 February 1990, after being imprisoned for nearly 19 years.[1][3] He has been described as a political prisoner.[4]

Suh was a Professor of International Studies at Ritsumeikan University in Japan from 1998 to 2018. His autobiography Unbroken Spirits: Nineteen Years in South Korea's Gulag details his experience as a political prisoner.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Suh, Sung (2001). Unbroken Spirits: Nineteen Years in South Korea's Gulag. United States: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742501218. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "〈在日朝鮮人女性の人間的遺産〉 徐兄弟の母 呉己順さん?" (in Japanese). 22 October 2006. Archived from the original on 22 October 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  3. ↑ "Spy-framed ethnic Koreans seek restoration of visa". koreatimes. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  4. ↑ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Report Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1991. p. 933.
  • Alvin L. Jacobson, South Korean Sociologist Imprisoned, Footnotes (American Sociological Association) 16 (January): 8.


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