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North Korea

Dear Friends,

We are writing in the run up to the Global Week of Prayer for North Korea, which runs from 25^th June -1^st July 2007, to ask for your help in mobilizing prayer for the beleaguered people of North Korea. As you are aware the Korean Church designated 2007 as the International Year of Prayer for North Korea and especially called for prayer during the week of June 25^th (the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War).

We would be most grateful if you were able to send out an e-mail requesting your membership to pray during the week and also to request special prayers in their churches. You may wish to encourage them to visit the dedicated website at www.pfnk.org for prayer and other materials that are available in both English and Korean.

We do deeply hope that you will be able to join in mobilizing prayer for our suffering brothers and sisters in Christ in North Korea, especially during this centenary year of the Pyongyang revival.

Yours in Christ

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June 16, 2006   Global week of prayer for North Korea -  June 19-25

The Global Week of Prayer for North Korea, organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and partner agencies across the world, will be taking place from 19-25 June 2006. The week will include prayer and protest against the gross human rights violations perpetrated against the North Korean people.

The persecution of Christians in North Korea may be the worst anywhere in the world. Despite the secrecy surrounding the country, information on the terrible oppression, statewide enforced idolatry and utterly brutal persecution of the Christians has become increasingly available in recent years. China refuses to acknowledge the existence of North Korean refugees within its territory and those found by the Chinese authorities are returned to North Korea where they face torture and even death in the most serious of cases.

The Global Week of Prayer for North Korea is supported by agencies around the world. Prayer events are planned in various countries during the week to highlight the severe repression of religious and other freedoms. Amongst the events planned are daily vigils outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, organized by Christian Social Responsibility. These will be complemented by vigils held in capital cities worldwide during the week.

The prayer events planned for the week are accompanied by advocacy and aid dimensions. Petitions, facilities to donate to aid work in North Korea and extensive resources to facilitate prayer can be found at www.prayfornorthkorea.org, or www.prayfornorthkorea.net in Korean.

In London, Christian Solidarity Worldwide is encouraging people to join the protest outside the Chinese Embassy on Thursday 22 June at 3.45pm. There will also be a Prayer Meeting at St Michael's Church, Chester Square, London at 12noon on Saturday 24 June.

CSW's Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas, says: "We encourage all Christians and Churches to take up this call to prayer during the Global Week of Prayer for North Korea, and especially on Sunday 25^th June, the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. We are anxious that the horrific suffering and darkness overshadowing the people of North Korea should finally be demolished."

Notes to Editors:

1. CSW welcomed the Lausanne Committee's decision to declare 25 June 2006 - the anniversary of the start of the Korean War - to be an International Day of Prayer for North Korea.

2. Organisations taking part in the Week of Prayer include: World Assemblies of God Fellowship, World Methodist Council, National Association of Evangelicals (US), Baptist World Alliance - Men's Department, World Evangelical Alliance - Religious Liberty Commission, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, North Korea Freedom Coalition, Midland Ministerial Alliance, God TV, Open Doors, Durihana, Save North Korea, Christian Social Responsibility, Helping Hands Korea, Korean Church Coalition, Danish European Mission, Premier Christian Radio, Defense Forum Foundation, Promise Keepers, Release International, Cornerstone, Aegis Foundation, Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, China Aid Association, Korean Church Association (UK), Romanian Evangelical Alliance, Christians in Crisis, Stand Today, Justice et Solidarite Mondiales, Asia Link, Alliance Defense Fund, Bos Life News, Christian Concern for Freedom of Conscience, Jubilee Action.

3. Amongst the activities taking place in various countries are:

   • Daily Vigils outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, from 8am to 8pm, organised by Christian Social Responsibility

• Prayer Meeting in Seoul Church, South Korea, Monday 19 June organised by Save North Korea

• Protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London, UK on Thursday 22 June, 3.45 pm

• Prayer meeting at St Michael's Church, Chester Square, London, UK on Saturday 24 June at 12noon 'til 2.30

• Prayer Meeting outside City Hall, Rådhuspladsen, Copenhagen on 23 June.

• Prayer Meeting at the Korean Church of Brussels Museumlaan 2, 1970 Wez.Oppem, on 17 June from 10am to 4pm

• Prayer Meeting at Grace Bible Fellowship, Pearse Street, Dublin on 23 June

• Evening of Prayer, St. Andrews Christian Centre, Hong Kong, on 22 June at 7pm

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June 1, 2006  UN calls on North Korea to suspend execution

CSW welcomes the move today by UN human rights officials to call North Korea to account over the scheduled execution of Mr Son Jong Nam.

The UN's public statement follows an intervention by four UN experts on execution, torture, arbitrary detention and North Korea which raised Mr Son's case in late April. The communication was met by a wholesale denunciation by the North Korean government, labeling the UN's communication as "a product of conspiracy undertaken in pursuit of the ill-minded aim of spreading fabricated information ..."

The UN experts articulated their dismay at the Government's refusal to 'respond in any meaningful way', stating  "We are profoundly dismayed by this response and deplore the failure of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to cooperate with the special procedures established by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights".

The UN raised Mr Son's case with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after an unprecedented public call to prevent a planned execution in North Korea. Until now, the secrecy and repression of the state have precluded such appeals since information has not been accessible. However, Mr. Son's brother, Son Jong Hoon, made a public appeal for intervention after receiving information via a relative. He told a press conference:  'My brother is sentenced to public execution and even family members cannot visit him'. The last news of Son Jong Nam was that he was imprisoned in the basement of the National Security Agency in Pyongyang and was 'practically dead from torture'.

North Korea is subject to specific scrutiny by the UN as a country with a particularly egregious human rights record. However it refuses to acknowledge the mandate of the UN appointed Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. With the reform of the UN and the establishment of the new Human Rights Council, CSW and other agencies will be urging the UN to find an effective way to bring relief to the millions suffering in North Korea, especially the estimated 200,000 who are imprisoned in North Korea's notorious prison camps.

CSW's National Director, Stuart Windsor, said: 'We are deeply disturbed by the response of the DPRK which is both superficial and lacking in credibility in the face of such a grave situation, especially when it is known that North Korea systematically practices arbitrary detention and torture and carries out summary executions. We are deeply concerned for Mr. Son and those like him who are hidden behind the repressive walls of injustice surrounding North Korea.'

The text of the UN statement can be found at:       http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=18682&Cr=DPRK&Cr1=#

For additional information on Mr Son's case, as covered in CSW's press release of 22^nd April 2006, and for further information on North Korea, please see: http://www.csw.org.uk/Countries/index.php?id=3

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April 22, 2006   Unprecedented call to stop execution in North Korea

In an unprecedented move, family and activists have called upon the international community to intervene to abort the execution of a named North Korean man, Mr. Son Jong Nam. CSW joins with multiple agencies that protested today outside the government complex in South Korea in calling for “efforts to rescue Son Jong Nam, who has been sentenced to public execution”. 

The appeal comes after Mr. Son’s brother, Son Jong Hoon, received information via a relative. He reported: ‘My brother is sentenced to public execution and even family members cannot visit him’.

This is the first time that an appeal has been issued to prevent the known execution of a named individual in North Korea from taking place.  Five North Korean defector organizations working for human rights in North Korea issued a joint statement on April 4th urging for intervention to stop the planned execution. They have now broadened their activities to ask the international community to intervene to raise the case.

The joint agency statement reports that Mr. Son (48) is imprisoned in the basement of the National Security Agency in Pyongyang and is ‘practically dead from horrible torture’.

Mr. Son is accused of betraying his country and sharing information with South Koreans. It is believed the charges are grounded in his visit to China where he met with his brother and spoke about life in North Korea and, possibly, in his connection to Christianity. He had also received financial assistance for his survival from his brother.

At a press conference reported by The Daily NK, his brother, Son Jong Hoon (43), stated: “In China, I only talked to him about how my siblings were doing and what North Koreans think of the Kim Jong Il regime. He shouldn’t be executed for the crime of betrayal or espionage. His execution needs to be stopped.”

Mr. Son defected from North Korea in 1997 with his wife, son and brother. He attended Church in China and became a Christian – a serious crime in North Korea. While his brother was successful in reaching South Korea in 2002, Son Jong Nam was repatriated in April 2001 and imprisoned for three years in the Ham-Gyung-Buk area prison camp in North Korea. He was released on parole in May 2004 after the intervention of influential contacts. He was expelled to Chongjin where he worked at a rocket research institute.

In May 2004 Mr. Son was able to meet his brother in China and return to North Korea. However the individual in Musan who helped him travel to China informed on him to the Musan National Security Agency. The National Security Office in Musan asked their colleagues in Pyongyang to arrest Mr. Son and he was taken in by the secret police in January 2006 as he was leaving his younger sister’s house in Pyongyang.  Those close to him have been exiled from Pyongyang.

Those closest to the situation, including Son Jong Hoon, are now calling for the wider international community to raise its voice to appeal for the life of Mr. Son. The statement from the North Korean defector organizations states: ‘Organizations including Association of North Korean Defectors, Democracy Network against North Korean Gulag, Free North Korean Broadcasting and 8,000 North Koreans are asking to stop the public execution of Son Jong Nam. … Mr. Son is currently facing critical danger. By raising the consciousness of the international community, we may be able to save Mr. Son.’

CSW’s International Advocate, Elizabeth Batha, who has gathered extensive first hand testimony from numerous torture victims and eyewitnesses of public execution, stated: ‘We are deeply concerned for the life and welfare of Mr. Son Jong Nam. North Korea practices brutal torture and it is hard to imagine the pain and suffering that will already have been inflicted upon him. We urge the international community to match the bravery and boldness of those who have decided to take this unprecedented step of announcing this to the outside world. We hope that those in a position of influence will be unstinting in strongly urging the North Koreans to abort their plans to carry out this unjust execution.’

NOTES TO EDITORS

Execution

At the press conference, Son Jong Hoon responded to enquiries about the date of the public execution, which had been suggested might be scheduled for mid-April, saying: “The date for the execution is only announced for murder and other common crimes. For political crimes and treason, the date is usually not announced beforehand because it might have an undesirable impact on the people. They carry out the execution on an arbitrary date”. However he said he had heard from a high level source from North Korea that the execution would be carried out sometime in April.

It is not known whether the execution has happened. Obtaining such information from inside North Korea is obviously a difficult and dangerous business. Although there is uncertainty about the situation it is hoped that the limited coverage of the case that occurred in South Korea will have been effective in delaying final action by North Korea.

Background

Mr. Son Jong Nam was born in Sadong, Soryongdong, Pyongyang and served his full military term as a non-commissioned officer at the Security Protection Headquarters from October 1975 – May 1983. On January 20, 1998, Mr. Son’s sister-in-law was investigated by the secret police while pregnant. During the interrogation she was kicked in the stomach and she miscarried. Mr. Son brought the matter before the Central People’s Committee, but he was put under pressure for his actions and told to leave. This led to his disillusionment with the regime and his decision to leave North Korea followed shortly afterwards.

North Korea’s Human Rights Record

North Korea’s human rights record is ranked amongst the very worst in the world. It was the focus of a General Assembly resolution in November, reflecting mounting international awareness and concern over the seriousness of what is taking place behind closed doors in the country. Egregious torture and public executions have been amongst the most serious of these concerns. The first ever footage of North Korean executions was shown last year at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and on BBC and other channels. It showed a typical scene of a North Korean execution: a very brief summary trial with no right of defense and almost immediate pronouncement of the death sentence; the tying of the victims to poles and the shooting of the victims by three gunshots from three marksmen.

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August 10, 2004   CSW welcomes appointment of UN Special Rapporteur on human rights

CSW welcomes the appointment of Vitit Muntarbhorn as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The appointment was announced in a press release on Friday, August 6th and follows the adoption of a resolution on the DPRK at the UN Commission on Human Rights in April this year.

CSW warmly welcomes the increased international attention that the mandate will bring to human rights in North Korea . "For too long, the terrible abuses of North Korea have gone unchecked" said CSW's National Director, Stuart Windsor. "It is important that the suffering people of North Korea have an advocate within the international community. We hope that the Special Rapporteur will be able to bring his influence to bear to address the very severe violations of virtually all human rights that occur in North Korea ."

Amongst the issues that the Rapporteur will need to address are the existence of vast prison camps estimated to hold over 100,000 prisoners, including those held for their failure to support the regime sufficiently. Of particular concern to CSW are those imprisoned for their faith due to the systematic repression of religious belief and expression in the land. Disturbing reports of torture and executions are key amongst the list of urgent concerns that the Rapporteur will be asked to address. Another issue high on the agenda of many human rights groups and activists is the appalling abuse inflicted on those who are repatriated to North Korea . Amongst the most shocking accounts to reach the outside world are the eyewitness testimonies of the infanticide of newly born children of repatriated women.

The Rapporteur is mandated to report to the Commission and the General Assembly. The resolution specifically directs him to establish contact with the Government and with the people of the DPRK, including by visiting the country.

The resolution also calls upon the DPRK to extend its full and unreserved cooperation to the Rapporteur, to assist him in the discharge of his mandate and to take all necessary steps to ensure that he has free and unlimited access to any person in the DPRK whom he might wish to meet.

CSW hopes that the DPRK will indeed co-operate with the United Nations and that unrestricted access will be given to the Rapporteur.

CSW also hopes that the DPRK will cooperate with the other mandates, including the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. CSW welcomes the recent appointment of Ms Asma Jahangir to this role and trusts that she will use her proven courage and commitment to human rights to speak for the people of North Korea and the many other nations where people suffer merely for holding peaceful religious beliefs.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The profile of the Special Rapporteur, as provided in the UN press release is as follows:

Mr. Muntarbhorn has earned international recognition for his expertise in human rights. He has served in various capacities in the United Nations system, including as Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (1990-4) and as expert or adviser to many United Nations organizations. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation on Human Rights.

Mr. Muntarbhorn is currently a Professor of Law at Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , teaching international law, human rights, humanitarian law and a variety of other subjects. He has participated in over 150 activities as seminar/conference speaker, presenter or rapporteur in all regions of the world, ranging from United Nations conferences to training programs for non-governmental organizations. He has published widely both locally and internationally on subjects ranging from human rights in the Asia-Pacific region to refugee law, child rights, women's rights and humanitarian law. He also undertakes various pro bono activities to help the civil society sector, such as training programs on human rights.

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April 20, 2004   Urgent action for North Korean in China  

Dear friends,

We have received news of a desperate situation facing a North Korean who faces potentially imminent repatriation followed by likely execution.

Mr. Park Yong-chol is currently serving a sentence in China for helping other North Koreans. It is reported that he will be repatriated to North Korea upon his imminent release, and is likely to face very brutal treatment followed by execution.

We would be most grateful if you could intervene to try to prevent the repatriation of Mr. Park. Below are details of the situation, followed by addresses to which you can send letters, telexes etc to voice your concern. Given the urgency of the situation we would ask you to use the means which will reach China first, such as fax and telex.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help seek to save the life of Mr. Park.

Best wishes in Christ,

URGENT APPEAL

NORTH KOREAN FACING REPATRIATION AND LIKELY EXECUTION

We would be very grateful if you would intervene on behalf of Mr Park Yong-chol (alias Jo Yong-su) a North Korean who was arrested and sentenced in China and now faces repatriation and likely execution.

Mr Park was arrested on 18th January 2003 in relation to the attempted escape of North Korean refugees by boat. On 22nd May 2003 a court in Yantai in Shantung Province sentenced him and four others to terms of imprisonment. Mr Park received a sentence of two years imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 RMB.

It appears that Mr Park may now be released on 1st May. He has expressed his absolute terror at the approach of his release date as he believes he will be repatriated to North Korea, which he describes as a death sentence. Indeed, accounts of the treatment of those repatriated would support his assessment. Those returned with much lesser offenses have been subject to horrific torture and execution.

Mr. Park is currently in Wei Fang Prison, approximately five hours drive from Yantai airport.

His co-defendant Mr. Choi Yong-hun was also transferred to this prison in mid January 2004. He is a South Korean and has been sentenced to five years. His case has received some attention in South Korea and he has been able to send letters to his family. In a recent letter to his wife he indicated Mr. Park's possible release on 1st May and asked for intervention on his behalf. He states that the thought of Mr. Park's repatriation torments him so badly that he himself sometimes contemplates suicide.

In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Ruud Lubbers, the humanitarian organization Life Funds For North Korean Refugees, whom Mr. Choi had appealed to for help, stated: '[Mr Park's] repatriation to North Korea is already arranged, so his release from the Chinese prison means a sure death sentence'.

We would be most grateful for your intervention in this case to save the life of Mr Park.

ADDRESSES

The following are useful addresses for lobbying purposes. You do not need to write to all of them and you can cc your original letter to other addresses rather than writing a number of letters.

President of the People's Republic of China
HU Jintao
The State Council General Office
Yongneixijie
Beijingshi 100017
People's Republic of China
Telegram: President Hu Jintao, Beijing, China
(Salutation: Your Excellency)

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
LI Zhaoxing
Waijiaobu
2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Beijingshi 100701
People's Republic of China
Tel: 00 86 10 6596 1114
Fax: 00 86 10 6596 1109 / 2660
E-mail: webmaster@fmprc.gov.cn
Telegram: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Beijing, China
Salutation: Your Excellency
(Fax is likely to be more effective than e-mail)

Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China
ZHANG Fusen
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu
Beijingshi 100020
People's Republic of China
Tel: 00 86 10 6520 5114
Telexes: 210070 FMPRC CN or 22478 MFERT CN
(Please forward to the Minister of Justice)
Telegram: Minister of Justice, Beijing, China
Salutation: Your Excellency

You could also write to your political representatives:

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April 15, 2004   CSW welcomes establishment of UN Special Rapporteur on North Korea

CSW welcomes the establishment of the post of a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The post was established today by the Commission on Human Rights in a resolution on the DPRK. The resolution passed by 29 votes to 8, with 16 abstentions.

CSW is pleased with this significant step in the monitoring of human rights in North Korea having lobbied for the introduction of the first ever resolution on North Korea last year and then for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur this year.

As part of the strategy to raise the issue of human rights as one of key concern amongst the international community, Christian Solidarity Worldwide's International Advocate had orchestrated a special meeting at the Commission to present evidence of the chilling human rights situation in North Korea.

Excerpts of the BBC film 'Access to Evil' were presented, introduced by the BBC Presenter Olenka Frenkiel, who provided further evidence of gross human rights violations.

A North Korean defector, Won Cheol Kang, spoke powerfully of his own experiences. In his moving account he described how he was sent to detention camp for crossing the border. Within three months he saw eleven of his fellow inmates die. Poignantly he stated that at the time he did not know people were not meant to die in prison. He also spoke of the practice of infanticide, describing how one of his fellow detainees was taken away pregnant and returned having had a forced abortion. Again he commented that at the time he did not question this and only realized the seriousness of the abuse when he left North Korea. He summed up this broad lack of awareness in the simple but shocking statement: 'North Korean people do not know what human rights are.'

Alongside his own experiences in detention, he described some of the issues which face North Koreans outside detention, including how he and his fellow school pupils had to view public executions.

He then went on to articulate the total lack of religious freedom in North Korea. David Drew MP who chaired the meeting also drew attention to the severe persecution of Christians in North Korea and restrictions on religious freedom.

CSW welcomes the references in the text of the UN resolution on the serious human rights abuses including the all-pervasive and severe restriction on religious freedom.

CSW also welcomes the inclusion in this year's resolution of additional issues which it had lobbied to have addressed, including the practice of forced abortions and infanticide in detention centers and camps.

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February 13, 2004   Fears for Safety of Man Who Exposed Chemical Weapons Testing on Political Prisoners 

The man who smuggled documentary evidence of chemical weapons testing on political prisoners inside North Korea is being detained in China. CSW is gravely concerned for his safety as he would face horrific treatment if he were sent back to North Korea.

Kang Byong-sop, 58, was detained by the Chinese authorities on January 3 in Yunnan Province near the border with Laos.

He was working as an electrical engineer in February 8 Vinalon Factory, one of North Korea's largest chemical plants, when he saw the transfer documents in a file belonging to the North Korean security service.

He smuggled the documents out of the factory and across the border into China where he gave them to the outside world.

One of these documents translated by a Korean speaker reads: "The above person is transferred from Camp 22 for the purpose of human experimentation of liquid gas of chemical weapons." The document featured on the recent BBC2 Access to Evil program screened on February 1.

Mr. Kang's older son, Kang Seong-kuk, was the victim of an alleged attempt by the North Korean security services to abduct him in Bangkok on January 25. This indicates the North Koreans' desperation to regain the transfer documents, which they believed were in his possession, pointing towards their authenticity.

Seong-kuk managed to break free and escape from the men sent to abduct him, sustaining a broken rib and injuries to his face and arm.

Kim Sang-hun, a South Korean Christian human rights activist who has helped hundreds of North Koreans escape through China, said: "If China repatriates Mr. Kang, a witness to chemical weapons experimentation on political prisoners, China becomes an accomplice to crimes against humanity. North Korean human rights are a disaster. This human experimentation is something very very terrible. To many North Koreans this is common knowledge.

"I am very anxious to invite other NGOs to join us and do something to stop such evil practices. The first thing I would like to do is to send international human rights inspection teams into North Korea and carry out inspections and investigations into conditions there.

"The international community has much stronger power than a single regime like North Korea, as was the case with Saddam's regime in Iraq.

"CSW has a very good team of investigators and came to South Korea and interviewed many North Korean defectors themselves. They have their own information. Naturally they are very concerned with this situation.

"Suppose if people in England suspected the government was carrying out arbitrary killings or extra-judicial killings and there was no rule of law in Britain, then many British people would run away from their country. North Koreans are under such severe and tough oppression that they run away from North Korea. If North Korea was not that oppressive there would not be so many hungry or poor people trying to run away. It's the main cause of the exodus - this oppression of people by the party and government. As a result they are in China and are being hunted down by the Chinese authorities and treated like livestock. They believe they are treated even worse than livestock. The Chinese have made international commitments that they will respect conventions and international law, and these will be equally as binding in their law courts. With the North Korean refugees they are contradicting themselves. It's a clear case of their arrogance and defiance of the international community and all humanitarian principles, which must not be tolerated.

"To me human rights are the Word of God. It's God's command that a human has rights. God gave us human rights. They are a gift from God, therefore we must uphold them and we must protect them."

CSW is calling on China to recognize the refugee status of North Korean refugees in line with China's ratification of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

The BBC website relating to the Access to Evil program is at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3436701.stm 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The transfer document reads: "The above person has been transferred from the Control Centre No.22, State Security Agency, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the State Security Agency of the 2.8 United Vinalon Factory for the purpose of human experimentation of liquid gas of chemical weapon at the Daily Site No.2." 13 February 2002 (Juche 96)

The desperate conditions in North Korea have prompted numerous North Koreans to make the difficult journey across the border to China. However, once in China they face different horrors. Lacking legal status, they are highly vulnerable to criminal elements and exploitative employers. Women are often sold into prostitution or unwittingly as brides. Once 'married' the man considers her his property and may keep her under lock and key, abusing her physically and sexually, even renting her out or selling her on to other men. 

Tragically these women have few alternatives. They have nothing to escape to. If they go to the police, or are turned in by their husband, they will be sent back to North Korea. 

The Chinese policy of repatriating North Koreans results in returnees facing torture and cruel imprisonment. Those who have been in contact with missionaries or South Koreans are subject to especially harsh treatment. Christians are likely to be executed or sent for life to hard labor camps. A number of eyewitness accounts report that women who are found to be pregnant by Chinese men are subject to forced abortion where this is possible or, where the pregnancy is more advanced, are kept in detention until they give birth, at which time their baby is smothered to death in front of them.

Despite the harshness of the Chinese line towards the refugees, there are aid workers and missionaries who risk their own safety to shelter North Koreans. Moved by compassion, they provide shelter and food to protect those arriving in China from such dangers. However, China is determined to eliminate the refugee situation and has staged a severe crackdown. 

Part of the strategy is to destroy the network that provides humanitarian care to the North Koreans. Thus, China has placed bounties on the heads of aid workers in the area and arrested and sentenced many who have sheltered and escorted escapees. 

China is in breach of its obligations under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This goes beyond flagrant violation to even punishing those who provide the protection that it is obligated to guarantee. 

In December 2003, the Chinese authorities arrested Mr. Takayuki Noguchi of the Japanese humanitarian organization Life Funds for North Korean Refugees. Mr. Noguchi, 32, who is responsible for international relations for the organization, is being held in Nanning Prison in Guangxi in China. 

Two North Koreans were arrested with Mr. Noguchi. One is a woman in her 40s who was born in Tokai Region, Japan, and taken to North Korea by her mother. The other is a man in his 50s who was born in West Japan and moved to North Korea in the early 1960s. Mr. Noguchi has been anxiously pleading for intervention to secure the protection of the two refugees from repatriation.

A spokesman for the Chinese Government publicly stated that the investigation is ongoing and that Mr. Noguchi could be subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment. 

Alongside concerns about abuses by the Chinese, human rights groups including CSW are deeply concerned about the widespread and systematic human rights violations occurring in North Korea. There are believed to be more than 100,000 people in prison camps inside North Korea. Among the many violations of basic rights are the systematic use of torture and the use of arbitrary and brutal imprisonment, characterized by violence, extreme deprivation, starvation food rations, intense forced labor, frequent accidents and disfigurement and high death tolls. 

Further grave sources of injustice are the lack of due process, the regular use of arbitrary and public execution and the punishment of whole families for the crime of one family member. 

The severity of the repercussions against individuals and their families mean that North Korea has largely succeeded in silencing reports of the atrocities committed within its borders. Alongside this, the extreme isolation and secrecy of the state has prevented the flow of information out of the country, while restricting freedom for external monitors to enter and assess the country. 

More information on Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, including the full text of their press statement, is available at www.northkoreanrefugees.com 

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September 19, 2003   House of Lords delegation returns from six-day visit to North Korea

Two members of the British House of Lords (Baroness Cox, a Deputy Speaker of the House and Lord Alton) returned today (Sept 19) to Beijing after a six-day trip to North Korea, accompanied by James Mawdsley, a human rights advocate who organized the trip.

The delegation met senior members of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) government including -
- the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) Kim Yong Nam
- Vice-Chairman of the SPA Kang Nung Su
- a Minister of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Chae Su Hun.

During their visit they traveled widely in Pyongyang, visited Anju 80km north of Pyongyang and also visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which divides North and South Korea.

The issues raised included human rights, political and religious freedoms. They also had detailed discussions on the nuclear stand-off between North Korea and the US.

Lord Alton said, "We believe the nuclear confrontation can be resolved without conflict. The DPRK has been considerably isolated for many years, but concerted international engagement can resolve two outstanding issues:
- assurances of no preemptive attack by the US 
- commitment to peaceful coexistence on the Korean peninsula.

"We believe that there could be speedy de-escalation of tension and a willingness to denuclearize the peninsular."

Baroness Cox said, "The possibility for North and South Korea to operate two systems within one country and to live together peacefully is, we believe, achievable. The stark division of Korea at the DMZ is clearly impeding economic prosperity and the development of a truly open society. The authorities in Pyongyang described how the collapse of their former economic partners in Eastern and Central Europe had a ruinous effect on their economy. Combined with the natural disasters of recent years, these problems are stimulating a reappraisal of their best interests."

Also, during discussions, the delegates raised a number of human rights cases associated with political and religious liberties and they have decided to establish the first-ever British-North Korean All Party Parliamentary Group to continue this dialogue.

They also extended an invitation to the President of the Presidium of the SPA to instigate a comparable visit to the UK.

NOTE FOR EDITORS: For further information, photographs or films, please contact -
- Baroness Cox on 0044 7799 582 007
- James Mawdsley on 0044 7976 624 706
- Marco Polo Hotel, Beijing 0086 1066 0366 88 (Rm 733 & 918) [until 20/9/3]

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April 11, 2003  Resolution on Human Rights Abuses in North Korea Tabled for first time at the UN

A resolution on the use of torture, prison camps and forced labor in North Korea has been tabled for the first time at the United Nations. 

The resolution, tabled by the European Union, also addresses freedoms of thought, expression, religion, assembly and association. It calls upon the government to refrain from punishing North Koreans for leaving the country, including by imprisonment and with the death penalty. 

It calls upon the North Korean authorities to cooperate with the Commission on Human Rights and requests the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to engage in a dialogue with the North Korean authorities and to submit his findings and recommendations back to the next session of the Commission.

The European Union tabled the resolution at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on April 10, and will be adopted or rejected at a vote on April 16. The resolution is the first of its kind to be presented to the Commission, which has until now failed to address the gravity of the human rights abuses in North Korea. 

The tabled resolution is welcomed by human rights groups concerned about the widespread and systematic human rights violations against North Koreans. Amongst the many violations are the systematic use of torture and the use or arbitrary and brutal imprisonment, characterized by violence, extreme deprivation, starvation food rations, intense forced labor, frequent accidents and disfigurement and high death tolls and the use of arbitrary detention. Further grave sources of injustice are the lack of due process, the regular use of arbitrary and public execution and the punishment of whole families for the crime of one family member. 

The severity of the repercussions against individuals and their families mean that North Korea has largely succeeded in silencing reports of the atrocities committed within its borders. Alongside this, the extreme isolation and secrecy of the state has prevented the flow of information out of the country, while restricting freedom for external monitors to enter and assess the country. 

A further issue of grave concern is the mistreatment of those North Koreans who have left to go to China and are subsequently repatriated. Cruel treatment awaits many such returnees and those who are deemed to have been in contact with South Koreans and missionaries are subject to especially harsh penalties, such as long term imprisonment or execution. A number of eyewitness accounts report that women who are found to be pregnant by Chinese men are subject to forced abortion where this is possible or, where the pregnancy is more advanced, are kept in detention until they give birth, when their baby is them smothered to death in front of them. 

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has been lobbying for the Commission to adopt a resolution that does justice to the victims of the grave human rights violations in North Korea. Earlier in the session, CSW-UK's President Baroness Cox chaired a briefing in which former North Korean prisoners, one of whom was imprisoned as a child for an act of his grandfather, gave evidence of their experiences in detention, describing immense inhumanity, and called for the international community to urgently respond to the grave violations currently being perpetrated in North Korea. 

Stuart Windsor, CSW-UK's National Director, said: "The people of North Korea are without a voice, subjected to indoctrination and wholesale repression across all human rights. Even the slightest suggestion of disloyalty to the state is punished by unimaginable cruelty. Prisoners are kept in the most barbaric of conditions, forced to labor long hours every day in almost impossible conditions, often in very dangerous surroundings.  We consider the tabling of this resolution a victory for human rights, an encouraging sign for the credibility of the Commission and hopefully an important step in encouraging freedom for the oppressed people of North Korea."


March 28, 2003  North Korean Escapees Tell United Nations Of Appalling Human Rights Abuses in Prison Camps

Two North Korean escapees spoke yesterday of the appalling conditions inside North Korean prison camps which drove prisoners to cannibalism and suicide.

Kang Chul Hwan was arrested aged nine along with several members of his family because of his grandfather's alleged political crimes. He spent ten years in a prison camp in North Korea where he witnessed children being kicked to death, worked to death or publicly executed. He told delegates at a parallel meeting to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of the horror of his years in the camp: "A third of the children died of malnourishment. In order to survive, I ate rats, cockroaches and snakes. Children simply disappeared from the camp. I can't understand how it's still there and it's a great shame for all mankind that these concentration camps are still tolerated. I call for an international human rights team to investigate the human rights situation in North Korea."

Lee Min Bok is a former North Korean Plant Genetic Engineer who was sent to a prison camp after attempting to defect to China. He survived terrible brutality at the hands of guards in both China and North Korea before being sent to the State Security Police Detention Centre in Hyesan city.

He said: "The food situation was so bad that cannibalism was quite widespread. A woman who had just given birth was so hungry that she ate her own newborn baby. Brothers ate their own brothers in order to survive.

"There were no sanitation facilities and no showers and your body became full of insects. There were tens of thousands of lice all over my body. There was no freedom to kill them. The concentration camps in North Korea today are like Hitler's concentration camps."

Kim Sang Hun, a South Korean who has worked for 20 years as a UN official and has devoted the last six years to aiding North Koreans, said: "Even using the most conservative estimates, the number of victims of 
extra-judicial killing in North Korea over the past 50 years of the regime's entire history stands close to one million, or five percent of the entire prisoner population of 300,000 each year.

"We are of the conviction that unless we stop such crimes against humanity from being committed in North Korea today, they are bound to spread elsewhere in the world in the generations to come. In contrast to the  recent case of the UN inspection team searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a good number of reliable witnesses are available today to identify the locations of these camps and of prisoner burial sites in North Korea."

Baroness Caroline Cox, a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and President of Christian Solidarity Worldwide-UK, who chaired the meeting said: "We have heard a grim and sober catalogue of extreme violations of human rights in North Korea and China, with descriptions of suffering almost beyond comprehension.

"There is a moral imperative for all of us who have the privilege of living in freedom to use our freedom to influence the international community to try and bring an end to such appalling suffering and human degradation."

The North Koreans met with diplomatic missions and others to urge the Commission on Human Rights to adopt its first resolution on human rights in North Korea during this session.

SPEAKERS:

Kim Sang Hun worked for 20 years as a UN official. He has devoted the last six years to aiding North Koreans and exposing the grave human rights concerns affecting them in China and North Korea.

Kang Chul Hwan is a former child prisoner who was arrested aged nine along with his family and spent ten years in prison. His adolescence was marked by brutality from camp guards and twelve-hour days of grueling labor

Lee Min Bok is a former North Korean Plant Genetic Engineer who experienced the horrors of prison camps for repatriated defectors in North Korea and detention centers in China and Russia.

Baroness Caroline Cox is a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and President of Christian Solidarity Worldwide-UK. She is widely traveled and a well-known champion of human rights.

---------------------------------

December 10, 2002   Horror of North Korean Prison Camps Revealed in Report   

The horror of life for tens of thousands of prisoners in North Korea has been documented in a new CSW report to coincide with International Human Rights Day.

CSW conducted interviews with 50 North Koreans in four different countries and heard of human rights abuses, such as arbitrary executions and torture, for this report, which provides a rare insight into conditions in North Korea's secret prison camps.

People are sent to prison camps if they are deemed to be unworthy citizens or connected with someone who has in some way offended the system under North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.

Interrogation methods in these camps range from water torture to sexual assault to severe beatings and psychological abuse. 

Prisoners are deformed as a result of the abuse, malnutrition and hard and dangerous work. There are also reports of chemical experimentation on political prisoners.

This week a former prison guard who defected to South Korea identified satellite images of one of the camps he worked in which held 50,000 people. These images were published last week by the Far Eastern Economic Review, who got them from Digital-Globe, a US-based commercial provider of satellite imagery.

The same guard told CSW of the first time he saw prison inmates: "They looked like beasts, but they were working so I knew they were human beings. All had a deformity - limping, bent shoulders. They had sunken eyes, like a skull; unfocused, fearful."

He said that as a guard there were virtually no limits to the punishments he could inflict: "You can do anything you like, but do not kill them - unless they resist authority."

The report details how torturers were selected for their cruelty in tests of increasing barbarity, and that only those who inflicted the greatest pain on their victims and showed the least compassion would be selected. Both guards and torturers are trained not to see the prisoners as human beings, but as subhuman and animals. One witness described how she saw a prisoner giving birth to a baby and the nurses cutting the umbilical cord and then smothering the baby with a wet towel.

Another witness told CSW how children were also interned in these camps, but were not allowed any contact with their mothers, who although they could see them, could not meet their needs of hunger and warmth.

Sanitary conditions in these prisons are appalling, with no provision for washing or cleaning the one set of clothes prisoners are allowed.

Prisoners were known to have been raped, and one witness described how prisoners were used for martial arts practice.

There has recently been a severe clampdown on the border between China and North Korea and large numbers of North Koreans have been repatriated to face interrogation and possible execution.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of CSW-UK, said: "As more and more evidence emerges of the inhuman abuse of people in these concentration camps, it is no longer an option to pretend that these camps do not exist. To stand back and do nothing can no longer be morally justifiable.

"CSW works all over the world, but on International Human Rights Day, we want to state that the treatment of prisoners in North Korea represents one of the worst abuses of human rights we have ever documented.

"We will continue to call on the international community to take all possible steps necessary to close these camps and to ensure that human rights and dignity are restored to the oppressed people of North Korea." For a copy of the full report, please contact CSW at (877) 450-4516.

------------------------------------

November 6, 2002  Institute Endorses Legislation to Allow North Koreans to Apply for Refugee Status or Asylum

Press Release Contact: Matt Mullock     Phone: 202-835-8760

Washington, D.C. - The Institute on Religion and Public Policy applauds the introduction of and calls for the passage of Senate Bill 3122, the North Korean Refugee Relief Act of 2002, to allow North Korean refugees to apply for refugee status or asylum, introduced by Senator Sam Brownback.

"The United States is the world's leader in the protection of refugees," Senator Brownback commented. "The world takes its lead from the United States when reacting to asylum-seekers, and the examples we set have far-reaching implications for those who flee persecution. For this reason, we have stood firm against excuses for the denial of basic human rights. As we all know from news reports, few North Koreans are able to seek asylum and refuge, be it in China or elsewhere. The few that do, however, are functionally barred from seeking asylum in the United States or being admitted to the United States as refugees. The bill I am introducing clarifies and fixes that technicality. This bill recognizes the physical obstacles facing North Korean refugees and removes the technicality that compromises our ability to help them."

"The Institute on Religion and Public Policy wholeheartedly endorses and supports the passage of this very important piece of legislation," stated Institute President Joseph K. Grieboski. "The principle that human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination is affirmed in international covenants, including the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All countries, especially the United States, must recognize the social and humanitarian nature of the problem of North Korean refugees and do everything within their power to assist those seeking protection, life, liberty, and property.

We applaud Senator Brownback for his leadership on this important issue an call on the United States Senate to take quick and effective action to pass the North Korean Refugee Relief Act of 2002."

###

Courtesy of:

Institute on Religion and Public Policy
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 115
Washington, DC 20005, USA
Phone: 202-835-8760/Fax: 202-835-8764

IRPP Europe
53 Rue Archimede
Brussels 1000,Belgium
Phone: +32 (0) 2 742 1575/Fax: +32(0) 2 742 1576
www.religionandpolicy.org

------------------------------------

August 15, 2002   Urgent Concern for 12 High Profile North Koreans Facing Repatriation

Dear Friends,

We are most grateful for your prayers for Chun Ki Won and those detained with him in China for helping North Koreans. We are pleased to let you know that Chun and two others have been freed and the final person is expected to be released shortly. 

However we have very troubling news about the North Koreans whom he was trying to help. Initial reports did not indicate the whereabouts of the group, although some sources thought that they had been returned. However, when Chun was released he was able to track them down to a detention center. Sadly he heard that they had just been moved. They are now believed to be at the China / North Korea border where they are facing imminent repatriation and severe penalties upon return. Please could you pray for these dear people, that God will protect them and lead them to safety. 

You could also write to: 

* The Chinese Embassy, preferably by fax to: His Excellency Ambassador Yang Jiechi, Embassy of China,  2300 Connecticut Ave., NW   Washington DC 20008,  Phone: (202) 328-2500, Fax: (202) 588-0032   Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

* Tang Jiaxuan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  2 Chaoyangmenneidajie, Dongsi, Beijing 100701, People's Republic of China,  fax: 00 86 10 6596 2660, tel: 00 86 10 6596 1114 / 6513 5566,  e-mail: webmaster@fmprc.gov.cn

Further details follow:

Twelve North Koreans who were arrested in China trying to reach freedom are facing imminent repatriation to North Korea. The group face particularly severe penalties as their case has been the subject of international publicity. One member of the group was nine months pregnant at the time of her arrest in December 2001.

The group were arrested on the night / early morning of 29th / 30th December 2001 near the border town of Dongchi in northeastern Inner Mongolia as they were trying to cross the Chinese / Mongolian border.

The husband and father of one of the families, Jung Jae Song, was also arrested, along with South Korean activist Chun Ki Won, another South Korean and an ethnic Korean Chinese man. The four helpers were imprisoned in China for months and international assistance was used to help secure their release. Little was known of the fate of the North Koreans arrested with them. 

However, Chun Ki Won, who has recently been released from detention in China, has now heard that the twelve have been transported to the North Korean border for repatriation. He was informed that the group was sent from Manzhouli, the northern tip of China near the Russian border, to Tumen near the North Korean border, for repatriation. According to the information, the group was moved on 1st August and was expected to arrive at the border with North Korea on 4th August.

A source had reported that the children of the North Koreans were seen playing outside a detention centre for illegal aliens in Manzhouli as late as 13th July. However when Chun asked to visit them on 5th August, he was told that they had left the centre. 

Great concern exists for the safety of the group. A former North Korean State Security Agency official has given evidence that North Koreans who try to escape to a third country are usually executed upon their return. 

Details of the Detainees Facing Repatriation

(1) Roh / Rah, Myung-Ok, female, 38, wife of Jung Jae Song, now a South Korean citizen, who was arrested for trying to help his family escape. 

(2) Jung, Eun-Mi, female, 10, daughter of Myung-Ok (1)

(3) Jung, Eun-Chul, male, 8, son of Myung-Ok (1)

(4) Rhyu, Mi-Hwa, female, 42

(5) Han, Sol-Hee, female, 17, daughter of Rhyu, Mi-Hwa (4)

(6) Kim, Chul-Nam, male, 32, uncle of Kim, Kwang-Il, a South Korean citizen

(7) Nam, Choon-Mi, female, 9 months pregnant at the time of arrest

(8) Kim, Ji-Sung (or Eui-Sung) male, husband of Choon-Mi (7)

(9) Kim, Young-Ju, 6, he had been helped and had his photo taken with activists and Donald MacIntyre of TIME magazine in the summer of 2001 in Yanbian, China

(10) Ahn, Soon-Ok, female, 37, mother of Young-Ju (9)

(11) Kim, Jun-Il, male, 31

(12) Rah, Young-Shik, male, 30 


Jung Jae Song's Family

Jung Jae Song, a former North Korean who had managed to reach South Korea in 1997, had travelled to China to help his wife and two children escape to freedom. A previous bid had taken them to the Burma border, where their plans had been thwarted. Having used up all his resources, Jung had returned to South Korea, still desperate to see his family re-united. He returned to China again to help escort his family to the Mongolian border. He is now heartbroken, haunted by the memory of his wife and children's faces after their arrest. 

Update on Helpers 

Jung Jae Song and fellow detainee South Korean Oh Young Phil were released by the Chinese in March. Ethnic Korean Chinese Jin Qi Lung / Kim Qi Lyung (Chinese / Korean pronunciation) was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and to a fine equivalent to $2,400. He is expected to be released shortly on parole, but is unlikely to be allowed back to his home region for the remaining five months of his sentence. Chun Ki Won was eventually released after seven months detention, on 5th August. He was sentenced on 15th July to deportation and a US$6,000 fine. He is currently in Hilar in China awaiting his exit paper and will shortly be returning to South Korea. His personal property has still not been returned, including over $7,000 cash in RMB and US$, and a video camera, cell phone, electronic memo pad and other property worth around $6,000. No valid explanation has been given for the refusal to return his property. 

--------------------------------------

August 15 2002    Father in Anguish as Family Face Repatriation and Severe Penalties 

A father who had previously escaped from North Korea fears for the safety of his family as they face imminent repatriation from China.

Jung Jae Song managed to escape to South Korea in 1997 and his wife Rah Myung-Ok and 10 year old daughter and 8 year old son escaped to China in 2000. 

He went to meet them in China in 2001, but all four were arrested along with 12 others while attempting to cross from China to Mongolia on the night of December 29 2001. One of the women in the group was nine months pregnant at the time of her arrest.

Jung Jae Song was released in March this year, but it is feared his family are about to be sent back to North Korea where they face imprisonment, torture and even death.

His wife and children, along with nine others, were taken from Manzhouli, at the northern tip of China near the Russian border on August 1. It was believed that they would arrive at the border with North Korea on August 4 in preparation for repatriation. 

The group and Jung Jae Song were arrested along with South Korean Chun Ki Won, another South Korean and an ethnic Korean Chinese man.

Chun Ki Won, 48, was released on August 5 after seven months in prison and was fined US$6,000. Kim Qi Lyung, the Korean Chinese man, was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and fined US$2,400.

CSW calls on China to immediately halt plans to repatriate this vulnerable group of North Koreans and to cease breaching their obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of CSW, said: "As we in the UK continue to hope and pray for the safe return of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman to their parents, should we not also remember this father who is separated from those he loves?

"His two children and wife face repatriation, violence and even execution. He is heartbroken and unable to sleep when he remembers the image of their faces after their arrest.

"Similar agony is suffered by countless other families who are separated after trying to flee North Korea. It is an outrage that China returns North Koreans to brutal and sometimes fatal punishment and we call on the international community to do its utmost to bring this unnecessary anguish to an end."

Chun Ki Won can be contacted in China on +86 135 0060 7735. Non-Korean speakers can contact translator and intermediary Douglas Shin on +82 16 9213 9010 or email dougeshin@yahoo.com

-----------------------------------------

Source: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

June 20, 2002   Commission to Testify at Senate Hearing on North Korean Refugees

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal government agency advising the Administration and Congress, will testify Friday, June 21, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Immigration Subcommittee on the plight of North Korean refugees in China. Commissioner and executive committee member Felice Gaer will present the Commission's remarks. Arthur Dewey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, will also testify along with several individuals and representatives of non-governmental organizations familiar with the situation of North Korean refugees in China.

When: 10:00 a.m., Friday June 21, 2002

Where: 226 Senate Dirksen Office Building

Background: Between 30,000 and 300,000 North Koreans are now in China. Most have fled to escape the dire conditions in North Korea, including the denial of religious freedom and all other basic human rights in that country. Since 2000, however, many North Koreans who fled to China have been forcibly repatriated by the Chinese government. Several reports indicate that those who return to North Korea are harshly treated and sometimes killed following capture by North Korean authorities. The Chinese government does not grant refugee status to fleeing North Koreans, even though most if not all meet the international criteria for that status. In addition, the Chinese government does not allow the UNHCR to operate in the border region between China and North Korea, thus preventing that organization from interviewing those crossing the border and assessing their status as refugees. On June 3, the Commission called upon the U.S. government to press China to uphold its international treaty obligations and protect North Korean refugees who have fled there.

Copies of the Commission's recent report and recommendations on North Korea are available on the Commission's Web site at www.uscirf.gov. Print copies can be obtained by calling the Commission's communications office.


The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to give independent recommendations to the executive branch and the Congress on policies to promote international religious freedom.

Visit our Web site at www.uscirf.gov

800 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, NW SUITE 790 WASHINGTON, DC 20002 202-523-3240 /202-523-5020 (FAX)

----------------------------------------

May 31, 2002   FAR CRY FROM WORLD CUP AS SOUTH KOREAN MOTHER WEEPS FOR SON WHO IS TO BE SENT BACK TO NORTH KOREA

The fate of a two and a half year old boy hangs in the balance as Chinese police plan to send him back to North Korea. Lee Song-yong, who is one of a group of six North Korean defectors, has been separated from his 31-year-old North Korean mother for the last 18 months.

His mother was three months pregnant when she defected to China in May 1999 and gave birth to him in November 1999 at the 292 Chinese Army Hospital in Beijing. Out of fear of being arrested, she was forced to leave China for South Korea without her son in November 2000.

She is now a South Korean citizen and is desperate to be reunited with her son. Through contacts in China, she managed to find a group of North Korean defectors in China who were about to go to South Korea and asked the group to bring her son with them. She is now beside herself with grief and worry. A friend appealing for international attention and action reported: 'The boy's heartbroken mother is in a state of panic by my side, weeping for help'.

The six defectors, arrested near the Chinese border with Burma and Laos, face imminent repatriation to North Korea, where it is feared that they will face severe penalties, including possible execution.

The group has now been taken by the Chinese Government to North China for repatriation. They were arrested in Yunnan Province, sent to Kunmin on May 29 and taken to Changchun yesterday.

Sources expressed deep concern for members of the group, fearing severe repercussions against them if they are returned to North Korea and believing that execution is a very real likelihood for members of the group.

Human rights activists are campaigning for the group's freedom, but the Chinese authorities are moving exceptionally fast in this case.

Recent cases in which North Koreans have escaped to China and taken refuge in foreign embassies have resulted in a more humanitarian response, as the authorities have allowed them to leave for a place of safety. However, with lower international attention focusing on this case, more drastic measures appear to be being taken. Urgent international press attention is thought to be needed to prevent the repatriation from taking place. 

CSW is appealing for urgent expressions of concern from governments, political representatives, the UNHCR, the International Olympic Committee, as well as individuals, to be communicated to the Chinese authorities to halt the repatriation.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide-UK, said: "As the nations celebrate the start of the 2002 World Cup, it is harrowing to think of the terror of those who are facing repression, punishment and even death for seeking freedom in South Korea. 

"From past experiences and first hand evidence which we have gathered, we have the strongest of reasons to fear the very worst if these individuals are repatriated. North Korea has proven itself incalculably cruel in dealing with escapees such as these in the past. We urge the international community to raise concern about this with the Chinese authorities as a matter of urgency."

Notes to editors:

(picture taken in China in mid-2001)

--------------------------

May 31, 2002   VERY URGENT: APPEAL TO HALT EXECUTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHRISTIAN


Dear Friends,

We are writing to ask if you could help in raising urgent concern for a group of North Koreans who are in the process of being sent back to North Korea, where they are in danger of execution. 

The six defectors were arrested in Yunnan Province in China, near the Laos /Burma border between May 24th - 26th. They were attempting to leave China, without a guide, but were arrested and are now being taken by the Chinese authorities to North China for repatriation to North Korea. 

The group was sent to Kunmin on the morning of May 29th and have been transported to Changchun today. The situation is particularly urgent as the Chinese are moving exceptionally fast in this case. 

Amongst the group is Lee Song-yong, a 2 1/2 year old boy, born 15th November 1999 in 292 Chinese Army Hospital in Beijing. Lee's mother, Park Sun-hi, aged 31, was 3 months pregnant when she fled to China for freedom in May 1999. Afraid of arrest and repatriation in China she managed to reach South Korea on 22nd November 2002. She is now a South Korean citizen. However she could not take her 12 month old baby at the time and has been desperate to bring him to live with her. She managed to find a group of North Koreans preparing to leave China and asked them to take her son with them. Unfortunately this is the group that has been arrested. 

A second member of the group is Mr Lee Hong-gang, aged 48. He was an underground Christian in North Korea. His father and one of his two brothers were executed for their Christian faith in North Korea. He fled North Korea in April 2000 when there were indications that his arrest and execution were imminent. 

Accounts from North Korean defectors who have been recaptured and interrogated by the North Korean authorities systematically report that being a Christian or even having had contact with a Christian is one of the most serious crimes that a North Korean can commit. Eyewitness evidence gathered by CSW and other organizations attests that North Koreans who have tried to escape and who are Christians face execution. It is believed by those close to the situation that there is no doubt that he would be executed if he is repatriated to North Korea. 

A third member of the group is 30 year old Kim Mi-hwa. 

The other serious crime that North Korean interrogators look for is links with South Korea, as this is deemed the ultimate act of treason. The facts that the group were heading for South Korea, and Lee Song-yong's mother has already defected to South Korea, are grave grounds for concern for the welfare of the group. 

This is a very serious case. It is understood that China and North Korea have an agreement that China will repatriate North Koreans to North Korea. We know from first hand evidence that this gives rise to the most horrific human rights abuses, including execution. Recent cases that have caught international attention have resulted in a more humanitarian response, with North Koreans seeking refuge in embassies being allowed to leave China for safety. 

China's international reputation is at risk in sending these people back to certain death. Besides the obvious outcry which such action should precipitate, her position as host of the Olympic Games in 2008 has to be called into question while such barbaric acts are carried out.

CSW is urgently appealing for expressions of concern from around the world to be communicated to the Chinese authorities to halt the repatriation. We would be very grateful if you could raise your concern as a matter of urgency and urge others to do the same. CSW is calling on political representatives, the UNHCR, the press, the International Olympic Committee and others with influence to urgently voice concern over this situation.
Please use any contacts you have with these channels to encourage them to take this up as a matter of urgency.

Thank you

Addresses follow: 

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tang Jiaxuan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
2 Chaoyangmenneidajie
Dongsi,
Beijing 100701
People's Republic of China
Tel: 00 86 10 6596 1109/14
Fax: 00 86 10 6596 2660
Email: webmaster@fmprc.gov.cn

Chinese Embassy to the United Kingdom
His Excellency Mr Ma Zhengang
Ambassador
Chinese Embassy to the United Kingdom
49-51 Portland Place
London W1N 4JL
Tel: 020 7299 4049
Fax: 020 7636 2981 / 7636 5578 

Chinese Mission to the United Nations in Geneva
His Excellency Mr Qiao Zonghuai
Tel: 00 41 22 879 56 00 / 78 / 50 / 41
Fax: 00 41 22 793 70 14 
E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int

Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN in New York
His Excellency Mr Wang Yingfan
Tel: + 1 212 655 6100 (switch) / 655 6123 (Ambassador)
Fax: + 1 212 634 7626
E-mail: chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn

Embassy of the People's Republic of China (USA)
Tel + 1 202 328 2500
Fax: + 1 202 588 0032
chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
94 rue de Montbrillant 
1202 Geneva
Switzerland
Tel: 00 41 22 739 8111
Fax: 00 41 22 739 7377
E-mail: hqpr00@unhcr.ch

-------------------------------------

March 22, 2002      Backlash on North Koreans Because of Asylum-Seekers' Bid for Freedom

Dear Friends,

We are sorry to have to let you know that there has been a disappointing backlash on the North Koreans hiding in China as a result of the freedom bid of the 25 North Koreans who sought asylum in the Spanish Embassy in Beijing.

The Chinese and North Korean authorities have now begun an intense crackdown in the border area, targeting North Koreans, South Korean NGOs and Christian groups. Local officials have said that this is in defiance of the international community. 

We have been asked by a number of contacts to raise this with the Chinese authorities. We would be grateful if you could add your voice to express concern about this situation. 

We would be very grateful if you could write to your Congressperson, by fax or e-mail, and urge him or her to raise this with the American and Chinese authorities. You can find out the name of your Congressperson by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A suggested letter to the Chinese authorities is attached. You could provide your Congressperson with the following addresses and you may also wish to write directly to the Chinese authorities yourself.

Chinese Foreign Ministry
Tang Jiaxuan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Chaoyangmenneidajie
Dongsi,
Beijing 100701
People's Republic of China
Tel: 00 86 10 6596 1109/14
Fax: 00 86 10 6596 2660
Email: webmaster@fmprc.gov.cn

Suggested letter: 

Your Excellency,

May I commend you for the good outcome of the case of the twenty five North Koreans who sought asylum in the Spanish Embassy in Beijing. I am glad that their expressions of terror at being returned to North Korea were taken seriously and that they could reach freedom and safety. This is particularly welcome in light of the protection that the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides for such people who are afraid to return to their country due to a well founded fear of persecution. 

I am deeply troubled to hear that there has been a backlash as a result of this case, with a severe crackdown on North Koreans and groups working with them in China. I am concerned about the welfare both of the missing NGO workers and the targeting of North Koreans. It is also surprising that actions have been taken against South Korean and Christian groups when these were not the groups involved in the embassy case. The actions against the North Koreans are highly disturbing in light of the well-documented terrible persecution of North Koreans who have been repatriated to North Korea. Punishments include execution, imprisonment and torture, clearly amounting to severe persecution and grave breaches of international standards. 

I am concerned that China's position that North Koreans are not genuine refugees is untenable while China denies continues to deny access by the UNHCR. I would urge you to re-consider China's stance on this issue, and to allow access by the UNHCR, to accept applications for refugee status and process them in accordance with China's obligations under the refugee convention. 

I am aware that China has stated that she resists such expressions of concern by the international community. However, as you will be aware, these are issues that lie at the core of international relations. Whilst I am keen to see the greater integration of China in international affairs, the strength of feeling that such issues engenders poses a very serious obstacle to greater engagement. 

As you will be aware there is considerable public opinion that China should not be granted privileges, including those such as hosting the Olympic Games, while she continues to disrespect international rules, including those she has voluntarily committed herself to. I hope that you will bear this in mind in considering how to proceed in dealing with this situation, which is set to attract increasing attention across the world.

Yours respectfully and sincerely,

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October 2001    Atrocities in North Korea: Speaker Shares Testimony

Dear Friends,

As many of you will know, we will have the privilege of introducing a witness to the human rights situation in North Korea at our conference on Saturday. Soon Ok Lee was imprisoned in North Korea for six years on fabricated charges. She was subjected to unspeakable torture, including water torture and repeated beatings and was forced to work over 17 hours a day in gruesome conditions. During her imprisonment she witnessed the particularly harsh treatment meted out to Christians, including their frequent abuse, consignment to the most dangerous forms of work and their murder in unimaginably horrific and cruel ways. She will be sharing her story on Saturday. 

Alongside Ms Lee we have two other witnesses who have come to the UK to make known the plight of the North Koreans, and particularly the Christians. One of them is Dr Norbert Vollertsen who worked in North Korea for a year and a half. He was awarded a friendship medal and was able to travel in North Korea to areas normally impenetrable to foreigners. His experience of life in North Korea gives a rare insight into the deprivation affecting the country. During his travels he came across the body of a soldier who had died from torture and he spoke out against the repression and human rights abuses in the country. He was expelled at the end of last year. His story has been highlighted in the international media, including Time, Newsweek, CNN etc. Dr Vollertsen is also a witness to the repression of religious freedom in North Korea. 

We want to give an extended opportunity for the witnesses to describe their experiences and for us, as the Body of Christ, to respond in prayer for our brothers and sisters who are enduring terrible sufferings. We have therefore convened a prayer meeting, which will be held on Tuesday 9th October at 8pm at Korean Church London, 37 Grove Crescent, Kingston, Surrey KT1 2DG. 

We realize that many of you will not be able to join us due to the distance. However, we would like to ask you to join us in prayer wherever you are, and where possible, encourage your prayer group and fellowship groups to remember the North Koreans on Tuesday and during this week. We are attaching a prayer briefing below to give you more information and pointers for prayer.

PLEASE PRAY FOR NORTH KOREA!

North Korea is one of the most repressive isolated countries in the world. All action and views are closely monitored by the communist regime with strict conformity and obedience ruthlessly enforced.

The whole population is required to follow the official ideology of juche. The Great Leader is exalted to such a pre-eminent state that it is a form of deification and idolatry. Any belief in God is strictly forbidden and is treated as a political crime. Christianity is regarded as one of the highest crimes in the land and is met with the severest of punishments.

North Korea is one of the most desperately needy and spiritually oppressed countries. The opposition to the gospel is extremely harsh, pervasive and thorough. North Koreans generally have not heard the name of Jesus, have never seen a church or a Bible or met a Christian. From a young age North Koreans are indoctrinated to adore their leader. The techniques used and the isolation from all other teaching mean that North Koreans are generally duped into believing wholesale lies and spiritual untruths throughout their lives. 

Those found to be Christians are incarcerated in political prisoner camps, also known as concentration camps, or are executed. Families are punished alongside the believers.

A number of credible reports of executions of Christians have emerged from North Korea in the last few years. They relate that Christians who have temporarily left the country and then converted to Christianity have been shot. In some of the testimonies it is clear that the individuals have been severely tortured beforehand. 

Other Christians are sentenced to concentration camps. The conditions in the camps are unspeakably grim and barbaric. Very few placed in them ever come out alive. Detainees are subjected to barbaric forms of torture, including water and electric torture, and grossly inhumane living and labor conditions.

The information available is very limited because of the isolation of North Korea, the severe punishments against those who talk about what happens and the fact that only very few of those who go into the camps come out. 

There are reports that Christians are treated the worst in these camps. Because they are under constant pressure to recant their faith, they are continually tortured throughout their captivity. They are sent to the camps for life. They are not released if they continue in their faith. 

Christians are not allowed to look up. From the moment they enter the camp they are forced to bow their necks. They must only look at the ground. Because they believe in the existence of God in Heaven, they are prohibited from looking up to the sky. Such long subjection to this measure changes their posture so that they become disfigured and hunchbacked, with their necks at a 90 degree angle from their back. Even when they die, their necks are broken and they are buried face down so that even then they cannot look up to heaven.

Christians are given the most dangerous and degrading jobs in the camps. They are forced to work in the dangerous and unhealthy factories, enduring terrible heat. They are also assigned to clean the septic tanks. 

Such terrible conditions mean that life expectancy is short. The appalling conditions make disease and injury common. The unsanitary conditions mean infection worsens and spreads rapidly. No medical treatment is given. 

The prisoners' lives are expendable. They are told that they are animals and when accident or injury occurs, no measures are taken. The guards will also perpetrate suffering and death for their own gratification. 

Working conditions are abysmal. Prisoners must labor from 5.30 am to 11 am. They are given only minuscule rations of food. They are forced to meet high quotas and have their meager food rations further reduced if they fail to meet the quota. The guards continually beat and abuse them.

Even minor infractions of the rules and innocent mistakes are met with severe punishment. One of the punishments meted out in such cases in solitary confinement in a tiny cell only 2' x 3' x 3'. The victim is unable to stand up and the concrete spikes sticking out of the walls prevent them from leaning against the walls. Many of the victims are unable to walk when they leave and many are left paralyzed from the waist down after the torture.

Personal hygiene is appalling. Prisoners are only allowed to go to the toilet at three appointed times a day. They are rarely allowed to wash themselves or their clothes. Prisoners are also deliberately exposed to severe cold and get frostbite. 

Kim Il Sung ordered that 3 generations of a Christian should be destroyed. Therefore if someone is found to be a Christian their parents and children will also be punished. Children are also taken into the camps and kept in appalling deprivation and brutality. 

There are also accounts of sexual violence and rape of prisoners. Pregnant women are forced to have abortions or their unborn babies are killed so that they are still born. Those born alive have their necks twisted and are murdered. 

Please pray: 

That the enforced idolatry imposed throughout North Korea will be broken. Pray that there will be true religious freedom and that the True God who really reigns in the heavens will be proclaimed as God. 

For those believers who follow Christ so wholeheartedly in such a spiritually hostile environment. Pray that God would uphold them in their faith and give them the strength and boldness to continue to adhere faithfully to him, at all costs. Pray that God would protect them and be with them in the fiery furnace as he was with Shadrach, Meshrach and Abednego.

Pray for the secret believers in North Korea, that they would grow in their faith and that God would shield them and keep them hidden from those who are against them. Pray also for the growth of the church and that the gospel would spread, even in this harsh environment.

Pray for those who leave the country to find food, and find the true Bread of Life. Pray for their protection from being detected and their maturity in the faith.

Pray for protection, success and wisdom for all those seeking to bring the gospel to North Koreans.