Speakers at the rally accused the authorities of disallowing even meeting with Vice-Chairman Ro Su Hui and Secretary General Won Jin Uk of the South Headquarters of Pomminryon.

They demanded the authorities halt the suppression of those patriotic figures who carried on activities to defuse the tension between the south and the north and the danger of war and achieve peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

Then a statement was read out.

It accused the Lee Myung Bak "government" of savagely violating the rights of reunification champions after indiscriminately putting them in custody on charges of being "Reds" and "persons following the north."

Recalling that ailing Won staged a sit-in hunger strike in protest against the authorities' suppression, the statement called on all forces of conscience to stage actions for the release of Ro and Won.