The United Nations has concluded that a Korean woman and her two daughters in North Korea are being forcibly detained.

“Shin Suk-ja and her two daughters, Oh Hye-won and Oh Kyu-won, have been held in arbitrary’ detention since 1987,” the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea said at a press conference on May 29.

The working group is under the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Arbitrary detention is detention of an individual in a case where there is no evidence that they committed a crime.

“The U.N. urged the North Korean government to take two actions: to immediately release the family members and compensate them enough for the detention,” ICNK said.

“The word release includes their repatriation to South Korea because it means free travel abroad in the context of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Ha Tae-kyoung, chief of Open Radio for North Korea. He is a lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party.

“The release also includes a check of the country if they choose to live in a democratic country where people can express their own opinion,” he said, when asked what is the reason to request the repatriation of the two daughters.

However, he admitted that it is difficult problem and said, “It’s not impossible although it’s not easy,” when asked about whether the UN’s suggestion will be put into effect or not.

“Shin died of hepatitis after suffering from the disease since the 1980s,” the North Korean Representatives in Geneva told OHCHR, April 30. “There is no specific relation between arbitrary detention and her death,” he added

“It’s a favorable sign although there are still many obstacles ahead,” said Oh Kil-nam, the husband of Shin. “If my wife died, I want to receive her remains and to meet my two daughters even in Germany.”

Oh entered North Korea from Germany seduced by North Korean agents in 1985 but fled the Stalinist country the next year, leaving his wife and two children on the advice of his wife.

Meanwhile, “I have got information that Shin’s two daughters has been in detention in Pyongyang,” claimed Choi Song-ryong, head of a group of families of those kidnapped by North Korea, in the press conference.