SEOUL, Oct. 16 (UPI) — North Korea replaced its veteran Red Cross Chairman Kang Su Rin and the news was officially transmitted from the North to the South across two separate channels of communication.
North Korea’s Buddhists’ Federation told a South Korean Buddhist group visiting the Mount Kumgang region that Ri Chung Bok replaced the 63-year-old Kang for health-related reasons, Yonhap reported. Earlier, television network SBS reported Seoul’s Unification Ministry had received word of Kang’s exit on Wednesday through an announcement North Korea transmitted to the South.
South Korea’s Buddhist representatives said they were told “not to over-interpret” Kang’s departure, after they asked North Korean Buddhist delegates whether the news would affect the family reunions to be held Oct. 20-22, then again from Oct. 24-26.
North Korea said Kang had offered his resignation in September, citing complications of diabetes.
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at South Korea’s Dongguk University, said the North’s announcement appears to be truthful, given recent trends toward rapprochement with the South, and said excessive interpretation of the development is unnecessary.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kang has extensive experience in cultural exchange with the South, and visited Incheon during the 2014 Asian Games.
South Korea’s Buddhists had traveled to North Korea, as part of the increased movement toward cultural exchange since late August when Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to defuse tensions at the border.
In its International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 issued on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said there could be approximately 10,000 Buddhists in North Korea, as well as 12,000 Protestants and 800 Roman Catholics.
The report pointed out while North Korea’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion to its citizens, and Pyongyang is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, religious freedom does not exist in practice, and the government has engaged in crackdowns against North Koreans practicing religions not sanctioned by the state.
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