South Korea’s presidential office said it welcomed the move, which came a day after Lee Jae Myung ordered the review of enforcing the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu
Three activists with the Korean Flotilla for a Free Palestine, Kim Dong-hyeon, Haecho (Kim A-hyun), and Jonathan (Seungjoon) Victor Lee, before setting sail to Gaza. (courtesy KFFP)
The Blue House on Thursday said it welcomed and appreciated Israel’s prompt release of two Korean nationals who had been arrested and detained while sailing on a humanitarian mission to Gaza. “The Israelis specifically deported the two Korean nationals immediately without sending them to detention facilities,” senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a briefing on Thursday. “The Lee Jae Myung administration expresses strong regret over Israel’s arrest of our nationals in its seizure of humanitarian aid vessels bound for Gaza,” Kang said.The spokesperson said that Israel had expressed hope that the incident would not affect Seoul-Tel Aviv ties and that the two sides could continue to develop their relations.“On international human rights issues and beyond, the Lee administration will respond in a principled and responsible manner to ensure the safety of Korean nationals, and will continue close diplomatic communication with the relevant countries to that end,” Kang added. Earlier, the Israeli military had seized vessels carrying activists Kim Dong-hyeon, 34, and Kim A-hyun (also known as “Haecho”), 28, and arrested both. This prompted ire from Korea’s president, who at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday called it “out of line and inhumane to detain Korean citizens for reasons that are unjustifiable under international law” and referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” while instructing officials to review whether the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for him could be enforced if he were to visit Korea.By Seo Young-ji, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
