By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 26, 1999; Page A19

SEOUL, Feb. 25 – Looking thin but happy, the man believed to be the world's longest-serving political prisoner walked through prison gates this morning into an outside world he has not seen in 41 years.

"For over 40 years, I've been in confinement; now I'm very happy to see the light," said Woo Yong Gak, 69, bowing to the crowd of reporters and human rights activists who gathered at the prison gate to greet him and 16 other political prisoners freed to mark the first anniversary of President Kim Dae Jung's administration.

The world has changed dramatically since 1958, when Woo was captured as he led a North Korean reconnaissance vessel into South Korean waters. But time has stood virtually still for tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, which is as volatile today as it was when Woo began what human rights activists describe as decades of solitary confinement, deprivation and torture.

Human rights organizations hailed the prisoners' release and cheered the fact that the Seoul government dropped its long-standing requirement that political prisoners sign a statement pledging to abide by South Korean laws – including those that make it a crime to praise North Korea.

But freeing the high-profile Woo – who had become a celebrated cause among human rights groups – and the other political prisoners already has posed a delicate dilemma in prickly inter-Korean relations.

North Korea has appealed for transfer of the prisoners – all of whom were former North Korean agents or sympathizers – "back to the bosoms of their families" in the North. Such a step would "be an important turning point in opening the door to a wide range of contacts and bring about a thawing in frozen inter-Korean relations," the North Korean Red Cross said in a letter to Kim.

Kim said Wednesday that he would consider sending the prisoners to the North if the Pyongyang government agrees to return some of the 200 or more South Koreans – mainly POWs from the Korean War nearly a half-century ago – who are believed to be held in North Korean prisons. Kim called for talks with North Korea on the repatriation issue, but he insisted that those talks must be "fair and convincing to the Korean people."

"The North must understand that South Korean prisoners of war and abductees in the North are equally anxious to meet their family members in the South," Kim said. "The South Korean public will not tolerate Seoul's one-sided repatriation of northern spies."

As part of his "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea, Kim repeatedly has proposed discussions aimed at bringing about a formal peace on the peninsula. He has even suggested an unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

But North Korea consistently rebuffs such overtures, refusing to recognize Seoul's leaders as anything more than "puppets" and "stooges" of the "American imperialists." This month, North Korea proposed talks with South Korea but attached deal-breaking conditions: that Seoul evict the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and end its military ties with the United States.

While rejecting those conditions, Kim Dae Jung said he had "positively evaluated" the North's offer and regarded it as a sign that Pyongyang may be willing to engage his government in unconditional talks eventually.

It was unclear today whether the repatriation issue would make talks between the two bitter adversaries more likely, or even whether Woo and the other prisoners wanted to return to the North.

Woo did not comment specifically. "This is not a private issue," he said. "This is a bilateral and humanitarian issue. I hope this issue will be resolved in a humanitarian way."

Dressed in a windbreaker and dark-rimmed glasses, Woo said that he is suffering from diabetes but otherwise is in good health. Activists from Minkahyup, a leading South Korean human rights group, said they would provide food and lodging in Seoul for the 17 freed men. Nearly 1,500 other inmates were released from prison, and the criminal records of 9,000 people were cleared as part of the amnesty.

"The psychological and material help given from a humanitarian viewpoint, human rights groups' efforts toward changing public sentiment and the 'release movement' by Amnesty International are carved in my heart," said Woo, looking a little dazed as he accepted flowers from well-wishers.

Woo said he hopes to work toward unification of the two Koreas, although he did not specify how. He also said that he had refused to sign the law-abiding oath while in prison because he did not want his freedom of conscience violated any further.

Amnesty International said in a statement this week that releasing Woo and the others showed that South Korea's human rights record has improved since Kim took office. It said that Kim, a former dissident who was jailed under South Korea's anti-Communist National Security Law, had shown himself to be committed to improving human rights. But, the statement said, "powerful groups, such as political opponents and even Ministry of Justice officials," seem to be blocking reform of the security law.