Activists reveal North Korea 'torture document'

South Korean human rights activists yesterday displayed a document they said was smuggled out of North Korea and showed the Stalinist state tested chemical weapons on political prisoners.

The document, bearing what appeared to be North Korea's security police seals, detailed the transfer of a 43-year-old North Korean man for chemical weapons testing.

The document was among three that were smuggled out of the country last year, according to activists belonging to the Citizens Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees.

The documents were first obtained by a North Korean man who fled his homeland last year and has since been detained by security authorities in China, the activists said.

Another document was in London and the third was in Tokyo.