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Chosun Ilbo reported that an ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said that in a bid to stop defectors and economic refugees from fleeing the famine-wracked country, the DPRK has been reinforcing its guards along the PRC and Russian borders since 2000. The MND released its annual "Major Defense Issues in 2001" report which concluded that there had been no major change in the strength of the DPRK military which continues to stand at 1.17 million active soldiers and 7.48 in reserve. The DPRK tank force has fallen from 3,800 to 3,700 units and armored cars from 2,300 to 2,200. (Yoo Yong-won, "REPORT NOTES REINFORCING BORDER GUARDS," Seoul, 12/31/2001)
Chosun Ilbo, December 31, 2001. A Ministry of National Defense official said Monday that North Korea has been reinforcing its guards on the Chinese and Russian borders since 2000, in a bid to stop defectors and economic refugees from fleeing the famine-wracked country. The official said that the North had merged brigades to create a specialized border guard unit aimed primarily at preventing escapees reaching China. The MND released 'Major Defense Issues in 2001,' which reported that there had been no major change in the strength of the North Korean military, which still 1.17 million active soldiers and 7.48 in reserve. The report noted that Pyongyang had increased its number of artillery pieces and support aircraft by 200 and 10, respectively, to 12,700 and 850; the number of army corps had been reduced by one to 19; and brigades from 78 to 76, excluding 30 artillery brigades. The North's tank force has fallen from 3,800 to 3,700 units and armored cars from 2,300 to 2,200. Pyongyang announced an increase in defense spending of 4.4% to US$1.42 billion, or 14.4% of its total budget, however, analysts note that this is more likely to be 30% of total spending.
Washingtonpost, December 31, 2001. Eighteen North Koreans have defected to South Korea after fleeing their hunger-stricken communist homeland, South Korea's main intelligence agency said Saturday. A total of 570 North Koreans, including the latest arrivals, have fled to the South this year, a sharp increase from last year's 312. Six of the latest defectors will reunite with family members who had earlier defected to South Korea, the National Intelligence Service said in a news release.
The Korea Herald reported that a DPRK man who fled to the ROK in 1997 has asked the Australian government to grant him refugee status, citing excessive restrictions in the ROK on DPRK defectors. A Sydney-based newspaper for ethnic Koreans reported that a 28-year-old defector, who traveled to Australia via Hong Kong and Canada, applied for refugee status on December 12. It is the first time a DPRK defector who resettled in the ROK has applied for refugee status in a third country. (Kim Ji-ho, "N.K. DEFECTOR SEEKING REFUGEE STATUS IN AUSTRALIA," Seoul, 12/17/01)
Chosun ilbo, December 18, 2001. North Korean refugee Lee Jeong-kuk who is the president of a food company, which has 13 fast-food chains nationwide, including one in China said Tuesday that he will donate W1.5 million on a monthly basis to an Association of Supporters for North Korean Defectors. Lee is the first defector to donate to the fund for other defectors. Lee opened a restaurant in October 1999, after working variously as an employee at a parking lot, singing room and sewing factory, in Icheon, Gyeonggi province with the help of a government loan for start-ups of W100million. The restaurant named "Cheong Ryu Gwan" offers various North Korean style dishes such as cold noodles and pheasant meat and seats 400.
He has had five years experience in cooking such dishes, as he had been the restaurant manager of Cheong Ryu Gwan in Pyongyang before coming to South Korea. "I would like to give confidence to other defectors and their descendants. My confidence came from the fact that society in the South offered a chance for those who make every effort," he said, adding that the key to success is "No eating, no sleeping and no spending." He dreams of North Korean food being sold in global markets, as fast food. Establishing the Cheong Ryu Food Company in February this year in Ganghwa, Gyeonggi province, Lee has also been distributing North Korean kimchi, Pyongyang style cold noodles and pheasant buns to famous hotels and department stores. The food company with 100 employees records W700million a month in sales.
Chosun Ilbo, December 18, 2001. Japan's government Spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday that it was regrettable that North Korea had suspended its investigation into the alleged kidnapping of Japanese citizens, as this was an important issue concerning people's safety. Fukuda continued that Tokyo would maintain its insistence that Pyongyang should sincerely look into this. He said that North Korea's response would determine the relations between the two countries and their future development. Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said that it was impossible to confirm the North Korean action, as the two had no diplomatic ties, but added that if it was true then it was a regrettable action. The Daily Yoimuri reported that there was heavy criticism of Pyongyang at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democrat Party, while under a banner headline the Mainichi proclaimed that the Chosensoren, a pro North Korean group of Koreans resident in Japan, had used Y23 billion from the bankrupt Chogin Tokyo, borrowed with insufficient collateral, to operate its headquarters and speculate in real estate.
Chosun Ilbo, December 7, 2001. Chinese Ambassador to Korea Li Bin stated Friday that North Koreans in China were not protected as refugees according to the United Nations Refugee Convention, and reiterated Beijing's position of not recognizing them as defectors or refugees. At a breakfast meeting with the Korean Press and Broadcasting Association, chaired by President Goh Hak-Yong, Ambassador Li said that evaluating the status of defectors under international agencies such as the UNHCR would only make problems more complicated. He added that although Beijing realized Koreans greatly value their ethnicity and shared bloodline, China as a UN member state sees no evidence of the need to recognize citizens of an independent and stable country (North Korea) as refugees. Concerning the amendment to the Overseas Ethnic Koreans Law, Li noted that there should be careful consideration in the revision because China does not accept dual citizenship. He added that with regard to Koreans in China, regardless of when they began to reside there, those who have established citizenship will be recognized only as Chinese citizens."
Twenty North Koreans recently arrived in Seoul after escaping their impoverished communist homeland, South Korea's main intelligence agency said Friday. The defectors included six laborers, 12 students and one infant, the National Intelligence Service said in a news release. After fleeing the North, they lived in hiding in an unidentified third country, seeking an opportunity to travel to the South, the agency said. No further information was released. Most North Korean defectors travel through China. But South Korean authorities usually don't identify China out of respect for that country's relations with North Korea. The latest defectors brought to 516 the number of North Koreans who have fled to the South this year. Last year, 312 North Koreans defected to South Korea, up from 148 in 1999. Since 1995, North Korea has depended on outside aid to feed its 22 million people. This week, U.N. relief agencies appealed for another year of large-scale aid to keep people from dying of famine in North Korea. The Koreas were divided in 1945. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended without a peace treaty. AP Network News, November 30, 2001.
Pierre Rigoulot, North Korean human right activist in France, reportedly received warning call from delegates in the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris. He said, “l got a message from one who allegedly addressed himself as a delegate in the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris at noon on 21 November.” “He said to me that I’m the one who is deterring the unification of North and South Korea, which I will pay for. After tracing the phone number that had remained in my cellular phone, I confirmed that the message came from the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris,” said he. He was quoted as saying that he reported the fact to the Foreign Ministry, Police and Press. It is hard to find in diplomatic precedent such an accident that diplomat menaces the citizens of the nation he is residing in. Chosun Ilbo, November 27, 2001.
Pierre Rigoulot, North Korean human right activist in France, reportedly received warning call from delegates in the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris. He said, “l got a message from one who allegedly addressed himself as a delegate in the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris at noon on 21 November.” “He said to me that I’m the one who is deterring the unification of North and South Korea, which I will pay for. After tracing the phone number that had remained in my cellular phone, I confirmed that the message came from the North Korean Representative’s office in Paris,” said he. He was quoted as saying that he reported the fact to the Foreign Ministry, Police and Press. It is hard to find in diplomatic precedent such an accident that diplomat menaces the citizens of the nation he is residing in. Chosun Ilbo, November 27, 2001.
AP Network News, November 24, 2001. A former South Korean soldier who was captured during the 1950-53 Korean War has returned home after fleeing the North, the government said Saturday. The 67-year-old man recently arrived in South Korea with 18 North Koreans who had fled hunger and other hardships, the government's National Intelligence Service said in a news release. It did not identify him. The man was taken prisoner during a battle in central Korea. He spent most of his life in the North toiling in coal mines, the intelligence agency said. It did not reveal other details, such as the former soldier's escape route. Over the years, 23 South Korean prisoners of war have returned home after fleeing the North. South Korea believes North Korea still holds 300 Southern soldiers, but Pyongyang denies it.
The former soldier and the 18 North Korean defectors lived in a third country before coming to Seoul, the agency said. Most North Korean defectors arrive through China, but South Korean authorities usually don't identify China out of respect for that country's relations with North Korea. The latest defectors brought to 497 the number of North Koreans who have fled to the South this year. Last year, 312 North Koreans defected to South Korea, up from 148 in 1999. The Korean peninsula was divided in 1945. The Korean War ended without a peace treaty, and the border remains sealed.
AP Network News, November 16, 2001 The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Friday 19 North Korean defectors had arrived in the country via a third country. Included in the defectors who fled from Hamkyong and Pyongan provinces of North Korea between February 1997 and September this year is a South Korean fisherman who was caught and taken to the North years ago.
Chosun Ilbo, November 19, 2001. Some 505 North Koreans have defected to South South Korea this year as of Saturday, and a government official estimated Sunday that the number will increase to some 550 by the end of the year. The number of exiles began to grow since 1995, when the North started to experience serious food shortages. While the increase was gradual at first; 86 in 1997, 71 in 1998 and 148 in 1999; the number of North Korean residents fleeing to the South jumped to 312 in 2000. The Ministry of Unification plans to double the capacity of Hanawon, a rehabilitation facility for North Korean defectors, which currently accommodates a maximum of 500 a year, by year 2003.
Joongang Ilbo, November 19, 2001. One of the 19 North Korean defectors who arrived in Seoul early in November has been identified as Jin Jeong-pal, a 61-year-old fisherman who was abducted by North Korea on April 12, 1967, while fishing near Baeng-nyeongdo Island in the West Sea (Yellow Sea). A spokesman for the Unification Ministry said Sunday, "Mr. Jin will be allowed to reunite with his family on Wednesday when we finish our investigation." He said the ministry was reviewing paying him the 30 million won ($23,000) resettlement money usually given to North Korean defectors. Mr. Jin reportedly identified some 50 South Korean fishermen abducted by the North whose fates were unknown to the South Korean authorities, among 435 abducted fishermen believed to be still detained in the North.
Survey Interview,
March 2001
By Kim Young Jun (anonymous research)
The relationship between the two Koreas improved rapidly in the past year. President Kim Dae Jung visited Pyongyang and held the first inter-Korean Summit. This was followed by the reunion of separated families, North Korea's announcement of plans to open up Kaesung, and Kim Jong Il's visit to China and plans to opening up Shinuiju. All these events seem to signal the improvement of inter-Korean relations and the opening up of North Korea. Meanwhile, in South Korea, there has been heated debate over North Korea's sincerity in improving ties with South Korea and going down the path of liberalization. Public opinion remains divided between Kim Jong Il's sincerity versus trickery. And the debate continues to this day. Which path has North Korea really taken?
For a more accurate answer to this question, I went to the borderland in search of North Koreans who had most recently crossed the Sino-Korean border. After a great deal of effort, I managed to find a North Korean defector (male, aged 30) who had crossed the border into Chinese territory on March 21, 2001. The young man was able to describe the latest scenes of life in North Korea. He was born in Chongjin, so he talked about the situation in Chongjin and the rest of the area in Hamkyung Province. I was unable to learn about the lives of people living outside Hamkyung. So the young man's account is obviously limited to one of the many aspects of life in North Korea. Nevertheless, we will be able to move closer to the true situation in North Korea through his account...
AP Network News, November 9, 2001. A group of 11 North Korean defectors have recently arrived here after drifting in a third country, the National Intelligence Service said Friday. Most of them were residents of Hamkyong Province, and they defected the country between April 1997 and February this year due to economic hardship. Six are members of a same family.
Chosun Ilbo, November 10, 2001. The political prison camp in Yo-duck, Han-nam, is where I has been imprisoned from 1977 to 1987, and I’ve continued to inform the realities of it with An, Hyuck, whom I met in the camp, after I escaped from North Korea in 1992. With the growing number of defectors, those who fled from the camp in Yo-duck entered South Korea one by one. North Korean government has distinguished concentration camp and labor camp and monitored these two zones separately. Concentration camp is where those who were convicted life sentence are imprisoned and no information has been known so far. Those who are in the labor camp, where I was imprisoned, can have some hope for being released. According to recent witnesses, almost all of these zones have changed to concentration camp. In contrast to the past when all the other members of the family were imprisoned, only the prisoner himself is imprisoned in the cell nowadays.
Before 1987 half of the prison camps in Yo-duck, Yip-suck-ri, and Dae-suk-ri, were labor camps, and Yong-pyong-ri, and Pyong-jon-ri were concentration camps situated in flat land where rice harvest was possible. As labor camp in Ku-eup-ri and Yi-suck-ri were change to concentration camps in 1987, all the imprisoned families were deported to Dae-suk-ri, marginal zone of Yo-duck prison. In other words, 80% of prison was changed to concentration camps, with only Dae-suck-ri left as a labor camp.
Recent defectors allegedly said that families, who lived in the labor zone, were forced to move to the concentration camp or released. Yi, young-hi,(fake name) who recently entered South Korea, informed us that prisoners in the labor camp have been released continuously since 1987 beginning from the deported Japanese to N.K. Yi, Chun-ok, who once had lived in Japan and visited North Korea to meet her husband, was imprisoned with her daughter, but now she is known to be released from the prison and living in Ko-won-kun, Ham-nam. Families of Kim, Dae-in, who served more than 20 years in the prison, and Park, Sun-ok, whose mother died in prison, were doomed to be driven to the controlled zone. Those who are categorized ‘dangerous rebels’ were forced to move to the concentration camp. They were tricked into being released but then set off in a truck with all their belongings. Among them are two daughters and wife of Oh, Kil-nam, who was a scholar in Germany and entered North Korea with his families as a secret agent.
Kim, Pyong-il, the first pilot of Kim, Jeong-il’s private plane, was imprisoned with his son and daughter, and the parents and siblings of Yi, Yong-sun, who entered South Korea were also imprisoned. 800 to 1000 prisoners left behind in the labor camp were foreign delegates and defectors. 8 out of 11 pilots who were locked in the prison in 1996 because they were known to have criticized the government and jokingly said ‘why don’t we hit Kim’s palace with the plain? 200 young men were also imprisoned during the anti-government movement in Shin-ui-ju, 1998. Yi, Back-young, who was imprisoned in Yo-duck said that ‘the generals and lieutenants who were responsible for the failure of the submarine invasion into South Korea were also imprisoned’.
With the advent of the food crisis, the situation in the camp became worse. Yi said that 200 out of 800 prisoners in the labor camp are dying due to malnutrition and forced labor. They are just surviving with 80g of corns and water gruel. The number of prisoners doesn’t decrease because the prison is always replenished with lots of new comers. In one winter, they destroyed all the buildings at Yoduck, dug a hole in the ground, and hid there for 20 days in the cold because they heared that an international human rights organizations might visit Yoduck. According to the domestic and international human rights organizations, there are more than 150000 are imprisoned in more than 10 prisons in North Korea.
Korea Times, November 2, 2001. Seventeen North Koreans recently arrived in Seoul after escaping their impoverished homeland, South Korea's main intelligence agency said yesterday. The defectors had lived in hiding in unidentified countries, seeking a chance to travel to South Korea, the National Intelligence Service said in a news release. They included nine laborers, three students, three jobless men and two children, it said. The agency gave no further information. The latest defectors brought to 448 the number of North Koreans who have fled to the South this year. Last year, 312 North Koreans defected to South Korea, up from 148 in 1999. Conditions in North Korea, which in recent years has suffered from both drought and flooding, are harsh. Since 1995, it has depended on outside aid to feed its 22 million people. Most North Korean defectors arrive from China. Tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be living in hiding in China. South Korean authorities usually don't identify China out of respect for that country's relations with North Korea. The Koreas were divided in 1945. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.
Chosun Ilbo, Oct. 28, 2001. A group calling itself the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea was inaugurated late last week. Its purpose is to work for an improvement in the human rights situation in North Korea, and as it is evidence that the US is arriving at the essence of the problem when it comes to North Korea, its formation is significant and can be expected to create waves. The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea’s membership not only includes all of the figures there who are in a position to influence US policy towards Asia and particularly North Korea, but also the committee’s main areas of concentration will be concentration camps and forced labour, verification of the distribution of food and needed articles, and the issue of escaped Northerners hiding in China.
One can therefore expect that the committee’s activities will provide the US and the world an overall view of the starvation in North Korea and the structural contradictions created which brought the situation about. The fact is that until now the US government’s emphasis has been to first try to get the North to the negotiation table, and in this process, illuminating the horrific human rights conditions there has been given less attention. This tone on the part of the US government influenced the approach to North Korea taken by private groups as well. By contrast, private organizations in Europe and Japan actively took North Korea to task in the area of human rights.
The ‘talk first’ approach by the US as well as the Korean government has for some time now been running into serious obstacles, since North Korea’s tactic has been to spit out that which it finds sour and swallow what it finds to be sweet. One might say that Korea, the US, and the rest of the world have arrived at the point where we need to once more ask the fundamental question of why it is we are trying to have dialogue with the North at all. It should go without saying that the primary goal of dialogue with North Korea must be to improve the globally unsurpassed situation of physical and psychological suffering by people living there.
The world’s support for North Korea has not healed that country’s chronic lack of food, however, and it has not contributed to an improvement in human rights or allowed ordinary North Korean’s to live lives that might be called humane. We need to give deep reflection to the question of whether the aid has not worked against all that was sought through the giving of aid in the first place, since a fundamental solution to the problem of starvation will remain impossible until there is systematical reform and openness there. The formation of this committee on human rights should be made to be an opportunity for civic society in Korea and the US to genuinely examine what would be the best way to open the possibility of having the very minimum of human rights and an improvement in living conditions in North Korea.
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Joongang Ilbo, Oct. 17, 2001. "I want to become a strong soldier." "I want to become a pastor who helps the poor." Four North Korean orphans have started their new life in the foreign land of South Korea. Not long ago, Jun-ho, 13, his brother Myeong-ho, 15, Se-yeong, 18, and Seung-hyeon, 14, were vagrants who roamed markets in China to find food. They had defected together with their families but were dispersed when caught by the Chinese police. "I am still nervous, but I feel I will do well," Jun-ho said.
Three months into their life in South Korea the boys still cannot dispel their sense of insecurity, nor laugh out loud, but their voices were filled with hope. The four - even Se-yeong, the eldest plan to go to elementary school with much younger children in order to build their lives on a strong foundation. The boys' "parent," who withholds his name, has been caring for North Korean defector children in China since 1998. A single man, he brought the boys to his rented apartment Saturday upon completion of their education at Hanaro, a center for North Korean defectors.
The man, who is handicapped and relies on a wooden leg, worked at volunteer organizations upon graduation from Seoul Institute of the Arts. In October of 1998, he took out loans and went to Jilin after having learned from the media of the dire situation of North Korean orphans living there. He decided to procure a house in China to provide a haven for them. He is already the "father" of 30 North Korean orphans.
The man expects to spend about 1.5 million won ($1,500) a month on living expenses for the four children. He also sends 1.2 million won a month to children in Jilin from donations collected by churches. The man plans to return to China at the end of the year to bring more children. "I suffered from infantile paralysis at the age of 2," he said. "If they are left alone, they will have to bow before greater distress than I ever felt."Joongang Ilbo reported that Kim Soon-hee, a 37-year old female who defected from the DPRK in an attempt to seek refuge in the US had her first hearings on her exile at the Immigration Court and Monday in San Diego, California. If Ms. Kim's application is accepted, she will be the first DPRK citizen to receive refuge in the US. ("FIRST EXILE HEARINGS ON N.K. DEFECTOR KIM SOON-HEE IN U.S.," Tokyo, 10/16/01)
AP Network News, Oct. 16, 2001. The first hearing on Kim, Sun-hi, a North Korean defector, was held in San Diego, South Los Angeles on October 15. Kim, who fled North Korea with his eleven-year-old son in 1994, lurked in Yon-byon was arrested while trying to illegally enter San Diego with fake passport via Hong Kong, Philippine, and Mexico. She was released on parole after seeking asylum on May 8.
Han, Cheong-il, who is protecting Kim, was quoted as saying that "the immigration officer, Kim and her attorney addressed and answered the questions given by the judge in the hearing held in the court of Immigration office. Whether the hearing will open was not clear after series of delays since last June.
Mr. Han told us, quoting what her attorney said, "it was her desire for freedom as well as hatred against suppression and hunger that caused her to determine to escape North Korea." Mr. Han said, "We are not in a situation to have a direct decision from the Judge. We agreed upon holding the next hearing in the mid January." "Immigration court is dealing her case not as a special case but as a case of illegal forgery of document and smuggling. Under this circumstance we should take the current situation of Immigration Officer, which is overloaded with lots of similar cases, into our account before we get an admission decision from the court." said Han.In this regard, Kim's case, treated as a regular case, should follow the due course just like those of other asylum case. We cannot preclude the possibility that her inspection process may be delayed, affected in one way or another by the current policy of the Immigration officer that are making their every effort on preventing terrorist attack. It may take 2 or 3 years at most to have a final judgment after hearing opinion of Immigration office, inspection by FBI and making a decision by the court.
Immigration office and FBI have been careful in dealing with her asylum case through several times of psychological tests and interview, and Han appointed a new American attorney who is an expert in human rights law in a way to strengthen her pleading. Han said, "Kim is in a good physical condition and she is relieved from fearing of repatriation now.Chosun Ilbo, October 14, 2001. A civic group in Japan aimed at rescuing family members abducted by North Korea, ‘The People’s Grand Assembly to Rescue those Kidnapped by North Korea’ was inaugurated Saturday afternoon in Hibiya Park, Tokyo, with the participation of nearly 2,000 Japanese and Korean. Those in attendance included Choi Woo-yong, the chairperson of Families of Abductees and Detainees in North Korea (FAD, www.rehome.or.kr) in South Korea; Pierre Rigoulot, the leader of the North Korea People’s Committee in France, and Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, a German expatriate who had been giving medical care in North Korea. In a statement, the new civic group appealed to people’s anger against terrorism saying they wanted those kidnapped to be returned home safely and quickly. Dr. Vollertsen said the North Korean people were in the same position as those kidnapped and that the Pyongyang regime must stop terrorism against its own people as well as foreigners immediately.
Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2001. Twelve North Koreans recently arrived in Seoul after escaping their hunger-stricken communist homeland, South Korea's main intelligence agency said Sunday. The defectors had lived in hiding in unidentified countries, seeking a chance to travel to the South after fleeing the North two months to four years ago, the National Intelligence Service said. Six of them have family members who earlier defected to South Korea, it said. The intelligence agency did not further identify the defectors to prevent authorities in Pyongyang from tracking down their relatives in North Korea for possible retaliation. The latest defectors brought to 400 the number of North Koreans who fled to the South this year. Last year, 312 North Koreans defected to South Korea, up from 148 in 1999. Most North Korean defectors arrive from China. Tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be living in secret in China, hoping to go to South Korea. Since 1995, the North has depended on outside aid to feed its 22 million people. The Koreas were divided into the communist North and the pro-Western South in 1945. They fought a three-year war from 1950-1953, which ended without a peace treaty.
AP Network News, October 8, 2001, Former North Korean diplomat Hong Sun-gyong, 62, in Bangkok was elected president of the Association of North Korean Defector-Comrades in a board meeting held Monday, replacing Kim Tok-hong who was made adviser. The association appointed Hong as new president to promote further the interest of North Korean defectors in the country, because Kim's two-year tenure expired nine months ago, an association official said.
Chosun Ilbo, October 5, 2001. From late August to early October North Korea conducts extensive pine mushroom harvesting across the country. Taking part in the activities are not only residents in mountainous regions, but also military personnel. Even helicopters are mobilized in the Mount Chilbo area of North Hamgyong province and the Hongwon region of South Hamgyong, the largest area for pine mushroom cultivation in the North. Military servicemen protect some mountains in North and South Hamgyong provinces, which are called “pine mushroom fields.” The authorities purchase pine mushrooms collected by ordinary citizens in return for such daily necessaries as sportswear, socks, rice and edible oil. People are encouraged to scour pine mushrooms at any mountains likely to produce them and to collect even one cluster of them. During the harvest season, all laborers in affected regions are mobilized for the harvesting, setting aside their routine jobs. But ordinary people - not professionals - often fail to collect any pine mushrooms in days.
No pine mushrooms grow under any pine trees. They grow at certain heights of mountains where pine groves enjoy sunshine and wetness. Finding a mushroom sprouting from a pinecone gives one the pleasure of collecting the precious medicinal herb, wild ginseng. During pine mushroom harvesting, other medicinal herbs are collected too. Pine mushrooms are a main foreign exchange earning source for North Korea. Ordinary citizens found consuming or smuggling them are liable to be charged with political crime or treason. The North exports them mainly to Japan, the exports of which drastically declined from US$23.13 million in 1997 to US$18.63 million in 1998 and US$6.17 million in 1999. The sharp fall is ascribed to imprudent harvesting and illicit selling by merchants.
To help a pine mushroom grow again the next year, the site from which one is harvested must be covered with dirt without fail. Until 1985 only skilled collectors had been allowed to collect pine mushrooms. Due to reckless harvesting since then, the pine mushroom fields have been hurt seriously, say North Korean escapees who have come to the South. Quantities of the mushrooms are smuggled out to China at some border towns, according to defectors. At marketplaces in Yanji across the border, one can find North Korean pine mushrooms with ease. A Korean-Chinese merchant says that during the pine mushroom harvesting season crackdowns are intensified along the North Korean border with China. North Korean authorities find it hard to prevent merchants from selling them to smugglers, who pay them much more than the authorities, he added.
Korea Times, September 29, 2001. Two North Koreans who defected to South Korea have gone missing, intelligence officials said yesterday. The intelligence agency is now trying to confirm the whereabouts of Kim Nam-su and Yoo Tae-joon. Kim, who defected to South Korea in January 1996, left the South in July this year on a business trip. He is presumed to have returned to North Korea. Yoo, who left South Korea in June last year, is also believed to have returned to the North in August. North Korea's state-run media said he is currently living in Pyongyang. Another defector, Shin Jung-chol, went missing after going on a trip to China in June last year but he was later discovered to be living there. Of 1,109 North Korean defectors who have sought asylum in South Korea since 1990, 33 have immigrated to other countries.
The Associated Press reported that Kim Hyong-deok in July became the first DPRK defector to work in the ROK National Assembly, working as secretary to a governing party legislator. Kim stated, "In the North, the state would have probably made me a coal miner or a farmer." He said that he had no hope of career advancement in the DPRK because his late grandfather briefly served in the ROK army during the Korean War. His boss, Representative Kim Seong-ho of the Millennium Democratic Party, said that Kim Hyong-deok's "experience of both South and North Korean societies has been a big help in approaching inter-Korean issues more objectively and practically." Kim fled the DPRK eight years ago and wandered around the PRC, Vietnam and Hong Kong before reaching the ROK in 1994. In his 1997 autobiography, "I Want to Live With My Father," Kim said reported atrocities he witnessed in the DPRK, including public executions. (Jae-Suk Yoo, "A NORTH KOREAN'S IMPROBABLE ODYSSEY TO FREEDOM," Seoul, 09/30/01)
Jongang Ilbo, September 26, 2001. The Government is likely to increase the budget allotted for the settlement of North Korean defectors in South Korea after narrowly escaping from their hunger-stricken homeland. Unification Ministry on Tuesday revealed that among the new budget plans for parliamentary inspection the government has allotted 12.687 billion won ($9.7 million) for subsidizing North Korean defectors next year, a 91.1 percent jump from this year's 6.638 billion won ($5.1 million).
Another 2.2 billion won ($1.69 million) was also reflected in the budget plan to reconstruct and extend the Hanawon Building by year 2003. Hanawon, an institute to assist North Koreans to settle in the unfamiliar South Korean Society is currently facing trouble with overloaded with people. However budget plan for inter-Korean functions is expected to decrease from the existing 1.25 billion won ($787,000) to 816 million won ($627,000). Extra budget for the second summit meeting was not reflected. The South-North Cooperation Fund would see no change and is expected to be granted with the usual 500 billion won ($384 million) same as this year. "We have minimized the expense for various inter-Korean functions likely to be held in both Seoul and Pyongyang," official of the Unification Ministry said. "As for the second North-South summit we might look into using the reserved fund."
by Suzanne Scholte
Chosun Ilbo, September 28, 2001. In recent months much attention has been given to our efforts to have Hwang Jang-yop visit the United States. Unfortunately, these efforts have been politicized unfairly, and I have received numerous communications regarding this issue both favorable and unfavorable to these efforts. I am writing to clarify our interest in Hwang. First, please realize that we first invited Hwang to visit the United States in 1997, the year of his defection, and we have continued to re-issue invitations over the years. Some have felt that our interest in Hwang has to do with the Sunshine Policy. It does not and never has. That is an issue that is for the Korean people to address...
The Associated Press reported that the ROK Defense Ministry said Friday that ROK security guards fired warning shots twice this week to repel DPRK soldiers who accidentally crossed the border. There were no casualties in the incidents, which occurred at two places in the eastern sector of the Demilitarized Zone on September 26 and 27. The Ministry said that the US-led UN Commandoncluded that the DPRK violations were "accidental" and had no hostile intentions. The DPRK soldiers retreated into their sector 25 minutes later after ROK guards fired nine warning shots. The UN Command proposed a meeting with DPRK military to discuss the incidents, but the DPRK military has rejected the suggestion. (AP, Paul Shin, "S. KOREA GUARDS FIRE SHOTS AT BORDER," Seoul, 9/28/01) and Reuters (Jason Neely, "S.KOREA SAYS FIRED WARNING SHOTS IN DMZ INCIDENTS," Seoul, 9/28/01)
The Korea Herald reported that the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Thursday that eighteen DPRK defectors arrived in the ROK recently after fleeing their home country. Officials said that the DPRK defectors, who came to Seoul via a third country, include seven workers, a teacher and a child. This brings the number of DPRK defectors who have settled in the ROK so far this year to 378. ("18 NORTH KOREANS ARRIVE IN SEOUL," Seoul, 09/27/01)
AP Network News, September 20, 2001. Twelve more North Koreans arrived in South Korea via a third country and are being questioned on their identity and motives for defection, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Wednesday. The 12 defectors, mostly laborers and unemployed, fled their country because of economic hardships in the North, the NIS said.
Chosun Ilbo, September 25, 2001. Mother of Jang, Gil-su, who entered South Korea by way of Singapore and Philippine on June 30, is reportedly in prison of Hwa-dae-kun, North Ham-kyong province.
Moon, Kuk-han, secretary general of movement for the salvation of Gil-su’s family, announced that Jeong, Sun-mi(fake name), deported to North Korea by Chinese police while seeking a shelter in China in March, is now confined in prison.
This story has been unfolded by Kim, Cheol (fake name), who once had been in the same prison, and the reporters in the headquarter of the movement got a clear picture of it after several contacts with him. Kim, who insisted that he had been with her until last June 20, was quoted as saying that, “I could overhear the guards saying that she will be sentenced to death, or end her life in political prisoners’ camp.” Reporters added that Kim, lived in the same village with Jeong, already knew by the face and tried to find shelters in China at the same time, after defecting from North Korea.
Based upon Kim’s witness, Jeong is said to be nearly dying of starvation, confined in a small cell without moving around just like other prisoners in the camp. South Korean human rights activists already submit request to confirm whether Jeong is alive or dead to UNHCHR and AI. Government, however, failed to make clear, just repeating “There’s no way to find whereabouts of Jeong and no information we got through either officially or unofficially.”
Korea Times, September 21, 2001. China is estimated to have repatriated 3,000 to 4,000 North Korean defectors to their home country last year, Chinese sources said Thursday. The sources said the number of North Korean defectors currently staying in China reaches as high as 30,000. The number is based on direct interviews with the defectors, contact with Korean residents in China and neutral international relief organizations helping defectors, the sources said. The sources continued, ``The number of North Korean defectors has decreased recently due to the comparatively better food condition in the North since last year.'' North Korean defectors are now tending to go to Mongolia as China has been rushing to deport them.
Joongang Ilbo reported that the Red Cross Society disclosed its plan to form a special committee to establish new standards for family reunions. A computer lottery will be used for selecting the first 300 candidates for the reunion Friday at 11 a.m. The applicants will be notified of the information the same day. A total of 117,298 registered to the information center. Among them, 12,664 passed away and 104,634 are still on the waiting list. The competitive rate is estimated to be about 349:1. (Kim Hee-sung, "300 CANDIDATES TO BE SELECTED FOR REUNION EVENT," Seoul, 09/20/01)
Forbes.com reported that a former DPRK researcher at the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon is in hiding in the PRC and recently contacted Lee Young-hwa, a professor at Kansai University in Japan, and Japanese freelance journalist Jiro Ishimaru. According to Lee and Ishimaru, she claims that the DPRK moved its entire nuclear development program to new underground bunkers before US inspections of its old facilities began and are continuing research there. She reportedly claimed that the underground facilities are made to appear from aerial photos to be a peasant's village. She also said that she is trying to defect to the US. ("NORTH KOREA: ANOTHER OUTCROPPING OF TERRORISM," 09/18/01)
Yonhap News Agency, September 8, 2001. National Intelligence Service (NIS) officials are questioning nineteen North Koreans who recently entered South Korea through a third country, to confirm their motives for defection and the route they used to enter the country, intelligence officials said Saturday. The 19 people include 9 laborers, 9 unemployed and one farm worker, mostly from North Hamgyong Province. They decided to leave the North to escape from hardship of everyday life there, officials said.
The Joongang Ilbo, September 10, 2001. Among the 721 North Korean defectors who arrived at South Korea from 1996 to May this year 86.8 percent or 626 people are getting by state welfare according to the findings of the Unification Ministry. "Those subject to welfare is either jobless or earn less than minimum monthly wages of 550,000 won ($420) meaning most of the North Korean defectors are leading a hard life," Rep. Kim Sung-ho of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) said yesterday based on the report. "Furthermore among the total 1,370 North Korea defectors living in the South only 9.9 percent or 135 people managed to find new jobs related to their previous occupation ," rep. Kim said and urged to extend more job opportunities for the defectors as well as chance to make use of their old skills.
The Chosun Ilbo, Septemper 7, 2001. The scenes of North Korea as seen from Tuman and Dandong in northeastern China look bleak. From the perspective of North Korea, however, the region is "the delivery room of hope." Sinuiju, North Pyongan province; Manpo, Jagang province; Hyesan, Yanggang province; Musan, Hyeoryong and Onsong, North Hamgyong province, dubbed "the border region," offer an atmosphere quite different from that of the inland area. These border towns began to attract people and goods influenced by China's opening and reform, the phenomenon of which was accelerated by food shortages. Mining towns along the Tumen River, which used to house political exiles, are losing their "proper functions."
Trains destined for the north are always packed even though pass getting procedures are troublesome. Required for travel to the border area are special passes with blue lines printed, the securing of which is said to be often through bribery, according to North Korea watchers here. The size of the bribe has reportedly spiralled to NKW500 recently from NKW200 in the early 1990s. There are still routes braved by those who don't carry special passes. They jump off trains before passes are checked and continue travelling on foot. The authorities have since installed "No. 10 checkpoints" at the entrance of border towns in a bid to control road travellers, but the persistent will to survive helps determined and desperate escapees find roads crossing the border.
Marketplaces in the border area are thriving with colourful Chinese commodities and various products transported from the inland. Foreign goods shops also do good business, as they are frequented by Chinese residents and former Korean residents in Japan who have migrated to the North, both categories of whom are alienated from the system. Their divergence with the locals in living standards often results in conflicts.
Most typical border cities are Sinuiju and Hyesan. The former is not as beautiful and tidy as Pyongyang, but its citizens are more lively and richer. They harbour little of the inferiority complex to their capital counterparts. Thanks to their frequent contacts with Chinese across the Yalu River, their ways of thinking are much more liberal. Young couples speeding on motorcycles and ordinary citizens criticizing ranking party officials are often seen there. Many people who have quit their normal jobs are engaged in commerce earnestly, though thugs coming from the inland present disorderly scenes. Females follow the latest fashion so much that they are said to influence even Pyongyang women.
Evading surveillance by the authorities, some border area residents watch Chinese televisions. Watching the 1988 Seoul Olympics through Chinese televisions, they are said to have reshaped their understanding of South Korea. A perception prevails in the border area that "becoming Workers' Party members is of no use. Money is almighty." The economy-first way of life; to the extent of giving rise to an impression that "everyone is bent on commerce;" confronts the solid wall of politics in the North, say North Korea watchers. Such perceptions spread inland aboard trains to influence a shift in the consciousness of North Koreans.
These remarks Kim Jong Il has allegedly made are widely circulated in the North: "I would rather see Sinuiju disappear from the map," and "Even without Hyesan, we can carry out the social revolution." Due to discord with the central government, the watchers say, the border area suffers from no small amount of disadvantages. Border area residents are liable to be labelled as "subversive." Open executions take place most often in the border region, purportedly as a means of rooting out rampant crimes involving wanderers and smugglers.
Above all, the border area offers final routes of escape from the North. In an effort to block the exodus of North Koreans, border guard brigades were established in five border cities along the Yalu and Tumen Rivers in 1996. Five more such brigades have since been inaugurated in Sinuiju, Manpo, Hyesan, Chongjin and Sonbong, setting up checkpoints every 500m in some places and every 3km elsewhere. Their guarding activities have recently been intensified. Meanwhile, trading with China is thriving through such border routes as Onsong-Shatouji, Namyang-Tuman, Chongsong-Kaisantun, Hyeryong-Sanhe, Nodokni-Nanting and Musan-Chongsan along the Tumen River, and Hyesan-Changbaixian, Junggangjin-Linjiang, Manpo-Jian and Sinuiju-Dandong along the Yalu River.
The Joongang Ilbo, September 7, 2001. The word "refugee" means a person who leaves his home and country because of war, political, religious or racial oppression. Since human history is filled with conflicts and struggles, refugees have existed since ancient times. The people who have had the longest history as refugees are the Jews. The Jewish history of living as refugees extends to the time when the Jews escaped ancient Egypt, led by Moses, and lasted another 2,000 years after the Romans drove out the Jews from Jerusalem in A.D. 135. This is called the "diaspora," which means the aggregate of Jews or Jewish communities scattered in exile outside Palestine or into present-day Israel. When the Jews in exile ended their life as refugees and moved back to Israel, the Palestinians who have lived in Israel for 1,400 years became refugees.
There are more refugees, of course, besides Jews and Palestinians. An enormous number of refugees is wandering around the world after leaving their homes due to civil wars in places like Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Rwanda. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are 22 million refugees in the world.
The most dramatic story of refugees in the latter half of 20th century has to do with the "boat people," who left Vietnam after that country fell into communist hands in 1975. Of the tens of thousands of refugees who attempted to flee Vietnam, a large number died after entering a vast, cruel ocean in tiny boats.
But it is not the time to talk only about others. Korea's modern history, marked by foreign invasions and exploitations, is also a history of evacuating and wandering refugees looking for shelter. At the end of the Choson Dynasty and during the Japanese occupation, our ancestors moved to Manchuria practically as refugees, and people who left their homes during the Korean War and are now over 60 experienced life as refugees. That sad history is still in progress. Those people are, of course, the North Koreans who are escaping the North in search of freedom and food.
What about the "warm southern country," the place North Korean refugees dream of? There are no more political refugees, but an increasing number of people leave because life has become more difficult due to economic reasons. Most of all, highly educated young people are emigrating in search of jobs. The reasons for emigration are lack of a future, a better education for their children and a better life. Shame fills us, for there is no difference between the feelings of these emigrants and that of refugees.
Mikhail Skibkin of Izvestia reported that a former ROK soldier who became a POW a month after the Korean War started escaped from the DPRK to the ROK. Mr. Shin Sun-su, 72, worked at a coalmine in the DPRK for fifty years. According to the ROK Defense Ministry, some 20 former ROK servicemen have returned to the ROK in recent years. ROK special agencies believe that there are still at least 300 former ROK servicemen kept in DPRK POW camps. ("FIFTY YEARS IN CAPTIVITY," Moscow, 10, 08/23/01)
Chosun August 14, 2001. Thirteen more North Koreans arrived in South Korea via a third country and are being questioned on their identity and motives for defection, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Tuesday. The 13 defectors, including a 71-year-old woman, are mostly laborers, farmers and unemployed who are presumed to have fled because of economic hardships in the North, the NIS said./Yonhap
NK Chosun, August 15 2001. The Amnesty International (AI) said Tuesday it sent an open letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin expressing 'grave concern' for North Korean asylum-seekers being forcibly sent back to North Korea by Chinese authorities. The AI letter said tens of thousands of starving North Koreans have fled their country over the past few years, and those caught in the crackdown are pushed back to North Korea without access to any refugee determination procedure./London=Yonhap
Chosun Ilbo, August 10 2001. Korea National Red Cross president Seo Young-hoon proposed Friday the early re-establishment of talks with his North Korean counterpart to resolve the displaced families issue. In a statement commemorating the 30th anniversary of North-South Red Cross Talks, Seo suggested establishing the status of family members, the exchange of addresses for postal communication and the setting up of meeting places. He said top priority should be given to the 1,800 people who are older than 90 in either meeting their lost relatives, or confirming whether they were alive or dead. Seo noted that it was most desirable to establish a meeting place at the DMZ where the Seoul Shinuiju railroad crosses it, though he said the North’s proposal for meeting at Mount Kumgang would be possible once or twice. The proposal was sent to the North Korean Red Cross in the morning through the Panmunjom liaison office. At a news conference Seo said he was trying to realize a plan to allow presents to be sent to the 1,200 North Koreans with family in the South confirmed to be alive this coming Chusok through the truce village.
Donga Ilbo, August 11 2001. U.N.`s Committee on the Elimination of Race Discrimination recommended China to treat the North Korean defectors as equal status as the refugees, expressing its worries about the Chinese rejection against the acknowledgement of the North Korean defectors as refugees and the recent forced repatriation of them to the North. The Committee also advised China, for its implementation, to prepare the reasonable standard to judge the refugee status by the law or the administrative regulations. The Committee also expressed special concerns in the report of the evaluation on the political asylums that China has rejected to admit them as refugees even though the UNHCR had confirmed their refugee status.
SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier was returned home from South Korea Tuesday morning after military authorities confirmed his desire to go back, the United Nations Command (UNC) said. Lee Sung-hun, 28, was discovered unarmed and in his underpants on the South's side of Korea's heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) Saturday. Lee had slipped and fallen into the Nam Dae River near North Korea's Kudong Ni Friday while fishing, the UNC said in a statement. ``He was tired and he was only wearing his underwear when the South Korean soldiers found him,'' a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said...
Tuesday August 7 3:15 AM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier was returned home from South Korea Tuesday morning after military authorities confirmed his desire to go back, the United Nations Command (UNC) said. Lee Sung-hun, 28, was discovered unarmed and in his underpants on the South's side of Korea's heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) Saturday. Lee had slipped and fallen into the Nam Dae River near North Korea's Kudong Ni Friday while fishing, the UNC said in a statement. ``He was tired and he was only wearing his underwear when the South Korean soldiers found him,'' a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said.
The UNC said Lee had described himself as an enlisted soldier assigned as deputy squad leader in a machine gun company with the 77th Regiment of the 25th Division of the Korean People's Army. The Nam Dae River runs through the four-km (2.5 mile) wide DMZ separating the two Koreas, which remain technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Lee was escorted to a military hospital for examination and then was interviewed by the South Korean military. ``We gave him the freedom of choice and he wanted to go back,'' the spokesman said. ``What he wants is the main issue, so we respected his choice.''
The spokesman said in at least three similar incidents in the past North Korean soldiers who accidentally crossed the border had chosen to go back to North Korea.
Lee was returned in a repatriation ceremony held in the border village of Panmunjon. The UNC said members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commissioned also interviewed Lee to confirm his desire to return to the communist North. North Korea's official news agency KCNA confirmed Lee's return to ``the socialist homeland,'' saying he had been ``swept to the South side's portion by an unexpected flood while he was on military duty.'' KCNA said Lee was ``warmly welcomed'' on his return and that he had shouted ``Long live respected supreme commander comrade Kim Jong-il'' as he crossed the demarcation line.
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 7, 2001; 6:10 AM
SEOUL, South Korea –– U.N. officials on Tuesday repatriated a North Korean soldier who was found exhausted and unarmed near the border between the two Koreas last week. Ri Sung Hun, a 29-year-old corporal, walked from the South through the border village of Panmunjom inside the 2½-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone separating the two countries.
In Panmunjom, Ri changed into a North Korean military uniform before crossing over to the North, where some 30 people cheered his return. "Long live respected supreme commander, comrade Kim Jong Il," North Korea's news outlet, KCNA, quoted Ri as saying.
The welcomers gave Ri a flower bouquet and carried him away on their shoulders, said Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. military command in the South Korean capital, Seoul. He was at Panmunjom for the repatriation. The American-led U.N. Command oversees control of the southern half of the DMZ.
Maj. Gen. Adrien Evequoz of Switzerland and other officials at the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, which is run by the United Nations, interviewed Ri before his repatriation to confirm that he was willing to go back.
South Korean border guards found Ri near the southern end of the DMZ on Saturday. Ri, who was in his underwear when he was found, is believed to have been swept south by rapids while fishing in the North, the ministry said. KCNA said Ri was swept away while on military duty.
The two countries share the world's most heavily armed border, guarded by minefields, barbed-wire fences and nearly two million soldiers on both sides. Their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. © 2001 The Associated Press