So Man-sul

So Man-sul (Korean: 서만술; Hanja: 徐萬述; 17 April 1927 – 19 February 2012) was the chairman of the Central Standing Committee of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, Chongryon, as well as a member of Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).[2]

In May 2006, he met his counterpart of the pro-Seoul Korean association Mindan, Ha Byung-ok. According to a joint statement signed on 17 May 2006, "Chongryon and Mindan affirmed each other that they would surely convert the long-standing antagonism and confrontation between the two organizations into reconciliation and concord in conformity with the trend of national history advancing toward national unity and reunification in the idea of "By our nation itself", the main spirit of the 15 June joint declaration".[3]

However, Mindan's regional chapters strongly opposed the joint statement,[4] and Ha Byung-ok was expelled from Mindan for attempting reconciliation with Chongryon. The new Mindan leadership criticises the declaration as a North Korean scheme to use Mindan for its reunification purposes, and in November 2006 published an article citing its reasoning behind opposing the joint statement, which it called "against humanity and human rights".[5] Pro-Chongryon media blamed this on "pressure from the Japanese government",[6]

On 30 October 2006, he met in Tokyo with Paek Rak-chong, chairman of the South Side's Committee for Implementing the 15 June Joint Declaration (see the article Reunification of Korea).[7]

In April 2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department requested So and two other Chongryon officials to voluntarily attend the police station to give statements in connection with a 1970s abduction of a Japanese toddler by North Korean agents. Chongryon issued a public statement rejecting the request.