Prisoners freed in mass amnesty

Seoul - South Korea yesterday freed the man described by Amnesty International as the world's longest-serving prisoner of conscience in a mass amnesty commemorating liberation from Japanese rule, officials said.

Kim Sun Myung, 71, arrested in October 1951 as a North Korean agent, was freed along with Ahn Hak Sop, 64, held since the Korean War, and Han Jang Ho, who has served 39 years on espionage charges, the justice ministry said. The amnesty affected a total of 3,169 ex-convicts and "exemplary" prisoners. AFP