1.   His best known novels described the lives of prisoners who have been held for decades in South Korean jails for refusing to renounce communism.

2.   Amnesty says he has been tortured and put in solitary confinement for refusing to renounce communism.

3.   The South said he had not been released previously because he had refused to renounce communism.

4.   Those who do not renounce communism are held indefinitely.

5.   They had been previously denied release for refusing to renounce communism.

6.   The Northern-born Kim has never renounced communism.