Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Hoping Families Can Return Safely"
The government announced on the 12th that the local diplomatic mission is providing necessary consular assistance regarding Russia's arrest of a South Korean national on espionage charges in Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East.
At a regular briefing that day, Lim Soo-seok, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated, "The local mission has been providing consular assistance since immediately after becoming aware of the arrest," adding, "We refrain from commenting on specific details until the individual's safety is secured."
However, he added, "Our government hopes that our citizen can safely return to their family as soon as possible and is communicating with the Russian side as necessary to that end."
When asked about the communication channels with Russia, Spokesperson Lim explained, "We are communicating through diplomatic channels between Korea and Russia." Regarding plans to dispatch personnel to Russia, he mentioned, "There are already sufficient diplomatic staff at our local mission, including attach?s dispatched from various ministries, so there are no plans for additional deployment."
Russian state news agency TASS reported the previous day, citing judicial authorities, that as a result of operational search activities related to an espionage case, a South Korean national named Baek was arrested and detained in Vladivostok. The Russian side explained that Baek allegedly passed information classified as state secrets to a foreign intelligence agency.
This is the first time a South Korean has been arrested on espionage charges in Russia. Baek is known to have worked as a missionary involved in rescuing North Korean defectors in the Russian Far East region.
A local judicial official told TASS in an interview, "Law enforcement officers detained Baek in Vladivostok earlier this year and transferred him to the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow at the end of February for investigation." It is reported that the Lefortovo court in Moscow extended Baek's detention period by an additional three months. Accordingly, Baek will be detained until June 15.
If convicted of espionage in Russia, the maximum sentence can be up to 20 years in prison. Previously, a court in the Zaporizhzhia region of Russia sentenced a Ukrainian citizen to 10 years in prison on espionage charges for collecting data on the deployment of the Russian National Guard.
Major foreign media outlets have reported that Russia considers South Korea an "unfriendly country" because South Korea supports Western sanctions against Russia related to the Ukraine war, in connection with Russia's recent arrest of the South Korean national.
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