As a young man, HwanTae-Kwon studied political science in the United States. There he met some students from North Korea. For this he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a spy and Amnesty International in Arendal, Norway, has been working for Hwan's release for 10 years. Since Hwan's conviction in 1985, democratic elections have been held in South Korea and several innocent prisoners were recently granted amnesty. But there are still trade union leaders, students and other dissidents in South Korean prisons.