South Korea has come under mounting pressure as its dispute with China over the suspected torture of a North Korea human rights activist is showing no signs of abating, with both sides reiterating their own claims.

Beijing on Friday again denied allegations that its investigators abused Kim Young-hwan during his detention, in response to Seoul’s request for a reinvestigation into his claims.

During the 114-day confinement, Kim said he was tortured with electricity, beaten on the face, deprived of sleep and coerced into 13 hours of daily labor. He was released and deported on July 20 alongside three other crusaders.

“China treated him in a civil and humanitarian manner according to the relevant legal process while respecting his legitimate rights, from a broad point of view on friendly South Korea-China relations,” the Foreign Ministry here quoted China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Ming as saying at a meeting with South Korean Ambassador to Beijing Lee Kyu-hyung.

Presenting Kim’s detailed testimony, Lee strongly urged another thorough probe into the case, an apology, punishment for those responsible and other follow-up steps, the ministry said in a statement.

Aside from Seoul’s hardening line, the juxtaposed claims by the two sides have been repeated since it first brought up the issue in mid-June.

Ministry officials said they plan to continue to demand another investigation and possibly push the subject into the agenda for future meetings between high-ranking officials and summit talks.

The seemingly protracting standoff is stoking concerns over a possible scratch in the two neighbor countries’ efforts to beef up economic and security cooperation.

Kim’s supporters blasted the ministry for its initially halfhearted response to the case, calling it an attempt not to roil its biggest trade partner and increasingly assertive global power.

“This case stood out because of Kim’s prominence but I think the government has posed a low key attitude toward most issues involving China,” said Yoon Pyung-joong, a political philosophy professor at Hanshin University in Gyeonggi Province, citing trade disputes and illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen.

“But Kim suffered more than harsh treatment ― he was tortured, even for opaque reasons. While it is right to cautiously approach other matters of sharp conflicts, the Korean government can speak up this time because human rights is a universal subject and torture is unacceptable in the civilized world.”

Yoon embraced Kim and his supporters’ plan to take the case to U.N. agencies as a strategy to make their point clear without spraining the two countries’ bilateral ties.

The Committee for the Release of North Korean Human Rights Activist Kim Young Hwan said it filed requests in May and plans an additional appeal for a probe into his detention with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva.

The ministry, National Human Rights Commission and some lawmakers have shown their intent to assist.

However, Kang Jun-young, a Chinese studies professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said that Seoul has few other options if Beijing insists on having found no evidence to verify Kim’s claims.

“Human rights is China’s Achilles’ heel. If we press China too much about something that happened on its soil, it may bring about an even bigger reverse effect.” Kang told The Korea Herald.

“We should rather seek preemptive measures for future incidents. There is a high probability that the (torture) practice has existed for a considerable time given the large number of defectors and human rights activists long before Kim.

“While actively raising the issue, Seoul should try to keep up discussions and establish norms with China on dealing with detainees by the type of charges. He did not pose direct threats to China so there should be more room for consideration in light of inter-Korean relations.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)