Three North Koreans Touch Down in Seoul

Bangkok Post, 15 May 2002. Fate of seven other refuge-seekers hazy

Three North Koreans who sought asylum in a US consulate in China last week arrived in South Korea yesterday while the fate of seven who made separate dashes for Japanese and Canadian missions remained unclear. Talks between Japan and China over five would-be asylum seekers whom Chinese police dragged out of Japan's consulate in Shenyang last week ended without any agreement or plans for further negotiations. “We requested the apology and humanitarian treatment and the assurance of a non-recurrence but the Chinese side said they had no reason to apologize. And they rejected all the requests especially in the case of the hand over,” a senior Japanese diplomat said.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry official said yesterday the case of two North Koreans who entered the Canadian embassy on Saturday had been resolved. A spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy could not confirm the breakthrough. In South Korea, a witness said three North Koreans who scaled the wall into the US consulate in Shenyang on Wednesday and on Thursday arrived at Inchon airport near Seoul in the afternoon. The asylum bids have created a diplomatic dilemma for China, forcing it to balance an obligation to poverty-stricken communist ally North Korea to send escapees back, with pressure from elsewhere in the world to respect human rights. So far this year, 162 North Koreans have defected to South Korea, compared with a record 583 last year. South Korean aid groups say that between 150,000 and 300,000 more North Koreans are scattered in the hills of northeast China and asylum attempts are expected to rise as the region comes under the spotlight during next month's World Cup.

China, which does not consider the asylum seekers to be refugees, refuses to allow them to fly directly to Seoul and has insisted they transit through third party countries in order to avoid upsetting Pyongyang. Japan says Chinese guards at its consulate violated diplomatic conventions by seizing the two men, two women and three-year-old girl after they had crossed the threshold of the consulate. Television footage showed Chinese consulate guards manhandling the kicking and screaming North Koreans. But China has asserted Japanese consular staff gave approval for the action and says the guards were acting out of goodwill. The incident has strained ties between the Asian neighbors who have been preparing to commemorate the 30th anniversary of normalized relations this year.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the incident involving two North Koreans entering the Canadian embassy in Beijing had been resolved. “The problem at the Canadian embassy no longer exists,” he said without elaborating. But the embassy said they were unaware of any resolution. “We're checking with the Foreign Ministry because that's not our understanding of the situation. We haven't had a resolution yet,” said embassy spokeswoman Jennifer May. A US consulate spokeswoman said the three North Koreans who had been holed up in the Shenyang mission left on Monday evening. “The embassy in Beijing and the consulate-general in Shenyang worked with the Chinese government to resolve the situation and we appreciate the Chinese government's constructive response,” she said.

CHINA REFUSES TO HAND FIVE NORTH KOREANS TO JAPAN

Agence France-Presse reported that the PRC has refused to hand over to Japan the five DPRK citizens it detained from a Japanese consulate in northeast PRC, a Japanese diplomat said. "They said they cannot do that because there is no international or domestic legal basis for that," an unnamed Japanese diplomat stated. The PRC's refusal was communicated to Masaaki Ono, chief of the Japanese foreign ministry's consular and immigration department, during a meeting between Ono and his PRC counterpart here Wednesday. ("CHINA REFUSES TO HAND FIVE NORTH KOREANS TO JAPAN: DIPLOMAT," 05/14/02)

5 REFUGEES IN CHINA TO BE SENT TO SEOUL

Joongang Ilbo reported that five DPRK defectors in the US and Canadian missions in PRC will arrive in ROK as early as Wednesday, a government source said Monday night. The two persons in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing will join the three on their trip to the ROK Tuesday. Another five DPRK defectors in the custody of the PRC police are still seeking asylum to the US and declining to go to ROK. The five, including a 2-year-old girl, Kim Han-mi, were aided by international nongovernmental groups, which had carefully planned the five DPRK defectors' attempt. The activists even located a relative of Han-mi's family living in the US. In a telephone interview with the JoongAng Ilbo Sunday, Nam Sin-u, Han-mi's mother's maternal uncle praised the nongovernmental groups' efforts. "I was informed a month before their asylum bids," Nam said. "I have agreed to help bring them to the United States." (Shin Joong-don, "5 REFUGEES IN CHINA TO BE SENT TO SEOUL," Seoul, 05/14/02)

NK DEFECTOR IN CHINA POSE DIPLOMATIC QUANDARIES

The Korea Herald reported that the growing number of DPRK defectors taking refuge in foreign missions in PRC is posing a diplomatic challenge to governments unwittingly involved in the issue, analysts in ROK said Monday. They noted that although a fundamental solution to the problem is elusive for now, the issue has become part of the international agenda, commanding attention from the global community and media. Activists claim there are up to 300,000 North Korean escapees in PRC. The Washington Post editorial called on Japan, the US and other Western governments to make clear to PRC that "the way to avoid further incidents around consulates and embassies is to use the UNHCR, rather than its security thugs, to manage a problem that will not go away." Experts here said, however, the UNHCR cannot be a "cure-all" since international laws consider only those who flee their home country for political reasons as legal refugees. (Seo Hyun-jin, "NK DEFECTOR IN CHINA POSE DIPLOMATIC QUANDARIES," Seoul, 05/14/02)

NOW IT'S CANADA'S TURN FOR ASYLUM

Joongang Ilbo reported that two more asylum-seekers have entered the Canadian Embassy in PRC seeking asylum. A spokesman gave no further information on the new asylum attempt. ROK also said it would welcome the original eight defectors -- three at the US Consulate and five in Chinese police custody. But the New York Times said Saturday that it had received a copy of a letter that all eight defectors carried in which they asked for asylum in US, not in ROK. The letter, provided by a group helping Northern defectors, said they feared they would become targets of North Korean agents if they came to ROK. (Oh Day-young, "NOW IT'S CANADA'S TURN FOR ASYLUM," Seoul, 05/13/02)

POLICE ACTED OUT OF CONCERN FOR JAPAN'S CONSULATE: CHINESE OFFICIAL

Agence France-Presse reported that the PRC on Saturday accused Japan of over-reacting to action by PRC police who were filmed dragging away five DPRK citizens kicking and screaming from Japan's consulate in Shenyang. The row over the incident intensified earlier when Japan, which has demanded an apology from the PRC, dismissed a PRC assertion that Japanese diplomats had allowed police to enter the compound to grab the five, who were apparently seeking asylum. The PRC has said it was acting to protect the consulate, and a PRC Embassy official in Tokyo reiterated on Saturday that police were acting on permission from the Japanese consul who had consented to the police action after consulting his superiors. Japan responded that there was no truth to PRC allegations that Japanese consular officials had given their consent for the five to be seized inside the consulate. "We have investigated the incident, and Japan did not agree to the entrance of the police to the consulate and the removal of the five people," the Foreign Ministry said. "We reiterate and strongly request that they be speedily handed over, and that China apologise and provide guarantees such an incident will not happen again," said the statement. ("POLICE ACTED OUT OF CONCERN FOR JAPAN'S CONSULATE: CHINESE OFFICIAL," 05/14/02) and Reuters (Elaine Lies, "CHINA SAYS JAPAN OVER-REACTING TO ASYLUM INCIDENT," Tokyo, 05/11/02)

AS CHINA AND FOREIGN DIPLOMATS TALK, SOUTH KOREA OFFERS TO TAKE ASYLUM SEEKERS

The Associated Press reported that the ROK said Monday it is willing to grant refuge to five people said to be DPRK asylum seekers who were detained by the PRC police at a Japanese consulate. The statement by a ROK Foreign Ministry spokesman offered a way out of a stalemate over the five, who are said to want to go to the US. "If their desire is to come to (South) Korea, there is no reason why we should refuse them," said Kim Euy-taek, a spokesman for the ministry in Seoul. Japan said the ROK has told the PRC of its offer, although the Foreign Ministry in ROK would not confirm that. The PRC's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

TWO MORE N. KOREANS SEEK REFUGE IN CANADIAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING

Agence France-Presse reported that in the third asylum bids in the PRC this week, two DPRK citizens have sought refuge in the Canadian embassy in Beijing, an embassy spokeswoman said. "We've got a man and a woman. They're both probably (in their) late 20s, early 30s," said spokeswoman Jennifer May. "They arrived Saturday morning and we've been looking after them since then." May refused to say how the two got in, citing security reasons. May said Canadian embassy officials had been negotiating with PRC officials in the hope that the PRC would let the two leave for a third country. "We've been in touch with the Chinese authorities and we're trying to get them out of here as fast as they can," May said, declining to say where the two want to go. ("CANADIAN DIPLOMATS IN TALKS WITH CHINA ON NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES," 05/13/02)and Agence France-Presse ("TWO MORE N. KOREANS SEEK REFUGE IN CANADIAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING," 05/13/02)

JAPAN PROTESTS TO CHINA

Joongang Ilbo reported that a major diplomatic row loomed Thursday after Japan protested the entry by PRC police and forcible capture of two DPRK asylum-seekers in its mission in Shenyang. Five DPRK defectors tried Wednesday to enter the Japanese Consulate in Shenyang, but reportedly three were blocked by PRC guards at the gate. Two were able to enter the mission's compound, but were dragged out by the policemen, eyewitnesses said. All five were in PRC custody Thursday afternoon. "It is a violation of the Vienna Convention," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said. Japan's deputy foreign minister, Yukio Takeuchi, summoned PRC's ambassador in Tokyo, Wu Dawei, to complain of the intrusion. (You Sang-chul, "JAPAN PROTESTS TO CHINA, 3RD FUGITIAVE IN US MISSION," Seoul, 05/10/02)

JAPAN'S 'HONOUR AND DIGNITY' DAMAGED BY CHINA CONSULATE INTRUSION

Agence France-Presse reported that a diplomatic row between Japan and the PRC grew more complicated after video footage showed five, and not two, DPRK citizens were seized from Japan's consulate in the PRC after an intrusion by police. Amid charges that the PRC's actions constituted a violation of international law and damaged Japan's "honour and dignity," officials admitted on Friday that earlier accounts of events were inaccurate after the footage showed all five DPRK citizens were dragged out with little interference from consular staff. The government said it would immediately dispatch a senior official to the PRC to investigate the unauthorized intrusion by PRC guards into the consulate, which is sovereign Japanese territory, in Shenyang, northeast China. "As far as we could see from the video ... we recognize five North Koreans, not two, entered," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, conceding the point after footage shown on major Japanese television networks.

The footage showed two men gaining entry, and then later being dragged out by the PRC guards - as reported earlier - but also two women, one with a young girl on her back. The women were wrestled to the ground inside the compound gates and dragged out by three PRC guards as the toddler screamed. Moments later, three men in shirt sleeves, presumed to be Japanese consular staff, appear from the direction of the consulate building. One of them picks up the PRC guards' hats and dusts them off before handing them back, but none makes any attempt to intervene. Japanese ambassador Koreshige Anami expressed, "The fact that armed police entered the compound without the consent of the Japanese side itself constitutes a violation of international law. Just imagine what the Chinese reaction would be if another nation just entered the compound of a Chinese consulate general somewhere in the world, for some reason. This is a matter of principle and pride. The honour and dignity of the Japanese nation has been damaged." ("VIDEO EVIDENCE COMPLICATES JAPAN-CHINA ROW OVER NORTH KOREANS," 05/10/02), Agence France-Presse ("JAPAN ADMITS FIVE NORTH KOREANS ENTERED CONSULATE, NOT TWO," 05/10/02) 05/10/02) and Agence France-Presse ("JAPAN'S 'HONOUR AND DIGNITY' DAMAGED BY CHINA CONSULATE INTRUSION," 05/10/02)

DEAL TO CUT US TRIP BY DEFECTOR ALLEGED

Joongang Ilbo reported that Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-profile defector ever from DPRK, has agreed to decline an invitation to testify before the US Congress in Washington, in return for 300 million won (US$235,400) pledged by the ROK. The daily said ROK's National Intelligence Service played on Hwang's determination to complete his life's study of Juche -- the ideological foundation of the DPRK regime. The intelligence agency promised to pay for an institute to study the ideology, the newspaper said. The pledge was contained in a formal agreement dated January 13 and reviewed by its reporters, the paper said. The intelligence agency denied that it had made any deal with Hwang, the newspaper said.("DEAL TO CUT US TRIP BY DEFECTOR ALLEGED," Seoul, 05/10/02)

NEW NORTH KOREAN ENTERS US CONSULATE IN CHINA

Agence France-Presse reported that another DPRK defector entered the US consulate in the PRC city of Shenyang.  US embassy and consular officials in the PRC declined to immediately confirm the report. Thursday's reported asylum bid comes a day after two DPRK defectors entered the US consulate and five tried to enter the Japanese mission in the same northern city.  The latest bid happened at 9:05 am (0105 GMT), the Yonhap News Agency reported.  Choe Kwang-Chol was in a visa line outside the consulate and took security by surprise by suddenly scaling a wall into the compound.  Yonhap said Choe was now asking for asylum in the United States as had the pair who entered the mission on Wednesday. "At this moment, I have nothing to say," a spokeswoman at the US consulate in Shenyang said. ("NEW NORTH KOREAN ENTERS US CONSULATE IN CHINA," 05/09/02)

UNIDENTIFIED INTRUDERS TRY TO ENTER JAPANESE, U.S. CONSULATES IN CHINA

The Associated Press  reported that PRC police, on alert for asylum-seekers from the DPRK, thwarted an attempt Wednesday by an unidentified group of people to rush into the Japanese Consulate in the northeastern city of Shenyang, Japanese diplomats said. Two other people also scaled the wall and entered the compound of the US Consulate in Shenyang, the US Embassy in Beijing said. An embassy spokesperson said he had no other details. The number of people involved in the attempt to enter the Japanese consulate, as well as their names and nationalities, were unknown, said a Japanese diplomat and an office worker at the consulate. The people were caught by the paramilitary People's Armed Police. ("DIPLOMATS: UNIDENTIFIED INTRUDERS TRY TO ENTER JAPANESE, U.S. CONSULATES IN CHINA," Beijing, 05/08/02) and Reuters ("JAPAN SAYS NORTH KOREAN TRESPASSERS DETAINED BY CHINA," Tokyo, 05/08/02)
Urgent Matter, Defectors Dragged out of the Japanese Consulate   Yonhap News, 8 May 2002. Some of Gil-su’s family members entered the Japanese Consulate but were dragged out by the Chinese guards posted in front of the Japanese Consulate in Sunyang City, China. Two other defectors succeeded in entering the US Consulate.   The five members of Gil-su Jang’s family, who escaped from North Korea last year, attempted to enter the Japanese Consulate but were arrested at 14:00 May 8th in Sunyang, China and handed over to the Chinese security police at 14:15 today.
	Two out of the five members of Gil-su’s family attempted to rush into the Japanese Consulate but were arrested along with the 3 other members and were sent to the Chinese security police station.  They are Kwan-chul Kim, Sun-hi Kim, a couple and their daughter Han-mi Kim, Sung-guk Kim and Kyong-suk Jung.   At the very same time, Yong-bum Song (age 41) and Bum-Chul Jung attempted to enter the USA Consulate nearby the Japanese Consulate in Sunyang City, Hoeping Province in China. However, the current situation of the two defectors in the USA Consulate has not yet been revealed. As of today, this is all we know of the current situation.

Pair of North Korean Defectors Find They Are Now Being Muted in Seoul

The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2002

SEOUL, South Korea -- In 1997, when Hwang Jang Yop and Kim Dok Hong defected from North Korea, they were celebrated as heroes here in the South. But by the time Mr. Kim met with South Korean intelligence agents in November 2000, things were very different.

Days before the meeting, the duo -- the most important defectors ever from the North -- had published the latest in a series of newspaper articles condemning Seoul for muzzling their opinions. Waving a copy of the article, one of the South Korean agents responsible for watching the pair screamed at Mr. Kim, "Do you want me to die because of this?" according to Mr. Kim's assistant, who was there. "If I die, we should die together,"
the agent said.

Mr. Kim sat unmoved behind his tortoise-shell glasses, then coolly replied, "Fine, let's die together." A senior
official with the South's National Intelligence Service says agents have met frequently with Mr. Kim but don't recall this exchange.

The South Korean government's aggressive campaign to restrain the two turncoats from the totalitarian North offers a revealing window on one of the highest-stakes debates under way in global diplomacy: whether to freeze out North Korea or work with it..//..

The defector duo spoke with authority when they arrived in Seoul, asserting that the North is a "living hell" incapable of reform. Mr. Hwang, 79 years old and the more eminent member of the pair, served for 17 years as a senior official of the North's ruling Worker's Party. He was also president of the country's most prestigious university and personal tutor to its dictator, Kim Jong Il. Many in South Korea assume that Mr. Hwang and his sidekick possess knowledge that could bring down the northern regime: secrets about nuclear and biological weapons, for example..//..

What's beyond dispute is that Messrs. Hwang and Kim put themselves sharply at odds with President Kim Dae Jung, a former dissident who campaigned for years to bring democracy to the South. Today, the president is pushing what he calls the Sunshine Policy, a broad program to promote trade, tourism and investment as a way to bring peace to a Korean Peninsula divided for half a century by Cold War..//..

U.S. intelligence officials concur that the North is working on nuclear weapons, and the Clinton administration made overtures aimed at persuading Pyongyang to stop. Despite pervasive food shortages, the country channels 25% to 30% of its economic output into developing weapons generally, according to outside experts. Famine killed an estimated one million North Koreans in the early 1990s.

That crisis might have destabilized the Pyongyang government, but international aid "resuscitated North Korea's regime," Mr.Hwang said in a rare interview last year. "Kim Jong Il was adamant to follow a path of war, even though his people were dying of starvation." There is a broad consensus that North Korea is among the world's most repressive regimes, maintaining n elaborate system of government informants and prison camps for suspected dissidents..//..

Mr. Hwang, who now has white hair and a hearing aid, spent the 1940s and 1950s mastering Stalinist ideology at universities in Japan and the Soviet Union. He worked his way up to the post of personal clerk to Kim Il Sung, North Korea's tyrannical founder and father of its current supreme leader. The elder Kim, backed by the Soviet army, established the country in 1948, as the formerly united Korea split into pro-Communist and pro-Western camps. In June 1950, Northern troops invaded the South, setting off the three-year Korean War.

His comrade, Kim Dok Hong, now 63, has worked under Mr. Hwang since the 1960s. Beginning in the 1970s, though, Mr. Hwang said he grew disillusioned with Kim Il Sung's preparing his son, Kim Jong Il, to be the next leader. Mr. Hwang disdained the younger Kim's abilities and opposed the creation of a family dynasty. His revulsion increased as the country's poverty deepened while the regime poured money into the military..//..

In early 1997, while traveling through Beijing, the duo made their move. They told their North Korean minders they wanted to shop for a birthday present for dictator Kim Jong Il. Instead, they took a taxi to the South Korean Embassy in Beijing, accompanied by an official from Seoul. To their dismay, the embassy gates were locked, and the South Korean took 10 minutes to find keys. "Those 10 minutes felt like 10 years," recalled Kim Dok Hong. Two months later, they were in Seoul..//..

From that point on, said Kim Dok Hong and other aides to Mr. Hwang, Seoul moved decisively to silence the defectors. In October 2000, the government shut down a monthly publication on North Korean affairs the two men put out. They lost their positions at a government think tank. And later, NIS officials threatened to toss them out of their government-provided apartments if they didn't stop attacking Kim Jong Il in the press, said Kim Dok Hong..//..

Conservative American groups, including the Defense Forum Foundation in Falls Church, Va., have been inviting Mr. Hwang to come to the U.S. since 1997, hoping he would describe North Korea's biological- and nuclear-weapons capabilities. Suzanne Scholte, the foundation's president, traveled to Seoul in December 2000, hoping to meet him. South Korean government officials told her Mr. Hwang didn't want to meet her or come to the U.S., as he was working on a book, she recalled. Frustrated, she left Seoul but through the South Korean government passed on to Mr. Hwang a Bible and an open invitation to visit the U.S..//..

By 2001, GOP Sen. Jesse Helms and Reps. Henry Hyde and Christopher Cox had lent their support to the Defense Forum's invitation. Sen. Helms raised the issue with President Kim Dae Jung when the South's leader visited Washington in March 2001, according to an aide to the senator.

But Helms staff members found themselves thwarted when they tried to reach Mr. Hwang during a July 2001 visit to Seoul. Three separate meetings with NIS officials failed to produce an interview with the defector.

Late last year, the NIS hit upon a gambit to block conclusively any Hwang trip to the U.S. The agency played on Mr. Hwang's determination to create a permanent legacy for his version of juche. In a letter to Kim Dok Hong in December, Mr. Hwang wrote that he has only a few years left to complete his life's work on juche and that he wants to create an institute to study and preserve it. The NIS would pay for an institute, and in exchange, Mr. Hwang would abandon his goal of going to Washington, the letter said. "If the U.S. invites me again, I will say I am delaying my trip," he wrote.

According to a copy of a formal agreement dated Jan. 13 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the NIS has pledged to donate 300 million won ($235,400) for the development of Mr. Hwang's institute in Seoul. The NIS gave him 20 million won as a down payment for construction of a five-story building, according to the document..//..

At a meeting in January with a representative of Rep. Hyde, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Hwang signaled he no longer wished to criticize the North. When asked by an NIS agent at the meeting if he still wanted to go to the U.S., according to other people who were there, the defector replied, not if the Americans "want me to explain about nuclear and chemical weapons" in North Korea. The senior NIS official confirmed the meeting and this discussion.

Mr. Hwang's decision has cost him the admiration of Kim Dok Hong. On Jan. 14, Mr. Kim wrote in a letter to his mentor, "I feel bitter toward you for selling your political honor and conscience for only 20 million won." They haven't talked since.

NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS AND INTER-KOREAN RECONCILIATION AND COOPERATION 

By Suh Dong-man, May 7, 2002

The government of China swiftly resolved the recent incident where a group of 25 North Korean asylum seekers rushed into the grounds of the Spanish Embassy in Beijing -- apparently out of concern that the defection might have a spillover effect, creating a much more serious situation. Reaching South Korea via a third country seems to have become a common method of defection by North Koreans, as in the case involving the Jang Gil-suh family last year. The issue of North Korean defectors is a political minefield, affecting the trilateral relationship between the two Koreas and China. And the latest defection is likely to trigger NGOs that support North Korean defectors to pressure the Seoul government to double its diplomatic efforts to grant them refuges status....

HARSH PRISON REGIME IN NORTH DESCRIBED FOR US LAWMAKERS

Joongang Ilbo reported that before a US House International Relations subcommittee, DPRK prison camp survivors testified Thursday on the DPRK's observance of humanitarian and human rights. They described to the subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific incidence of inhumane treatment. Lee Young-kook, a DPRK prison camp survivor and former bodyguard of DPRK leader, Kim Jong-il, described his experiences at the Yeohwa political prison. "I was allowed to eat only 130 grams of corn a day, along with a watery soup, but was forced to work for 15 hours daily," Lee said. Kim Sung-min, a former DPRK People's Army captain, said, "Contrary to the outside assumption, even soldiers are starving in the North." (Kim Jin, "HARSH PRISON REGIME IN NORTH DESCRIBED FOR US LAWMAKERS," Washington, 05/06/02)

CHINA ON HIGH ALERT FOR NORTH KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS

Reuters reported that the PRC is on alert for DPRK asylum seekers attempting to flee into their embassy compounds. Barbed wire and scores of police reinforcements have been implemented. Roads also have been cordoned off, and police clutching long batons now guard high embassy walls. Rumors more DPRK asylum-seekers may attempt to scale embassy walls during a week-long Labour Day holiday have pushed the PRC authorities to create buffer zones between the embassies and attractive walkways and check the identities of many passers-by. "The Chinese have taken the extra security measures because of rumours that 28 North Koreans are in Beijing looking for a chance to jump over the walls," said one Western diplomat on condition of anonymity. "The Chinese are embarrassed... They have to prevent these people from getting to our embassies," he said. ("CHINA ON HIGH ALERT FOR NORTH KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS," Beijing, 05/06/02)

Chinese Government’s Installation of Barbed Wire Entanglement at Foreign Embassies in Beijing to Bar Defectors’ Entrance

Yonhap News Agency, 5 May 2002 . In an attempt to bar North Korean’s entrance to foreign embassies for asylum-seekers, the Chinese government ordered its police personnel to install barbed wire entanglement at some of the foreign embassies based in Beijing as of May 5, local diplomatic sources reported. Along with this, security monitoring has been extensively strengthened at two major spots nearby important diplomatic complexes and roads connecting to those areas have been blocked. Particularly, some foreigners are required to show their identification card when passing by the vicinity. A Chinese police officer in his mission to guard one European foreign embassy outside explained, “It is ultimately to prevent defectors’ entrance”.

Diplomats in Beijing have reconfirmed that recent security reinforcement is closely related to Chinese government’s determination to deter North Korean defectors’ asylum seeking requests to foreign embassies or representative offices based in Beijing. With recent consecutive asylum seeking success of North Korean defectors at foreign embassies in Beijing and making their way to South Korea through the third countries, Chinese authority has been showing its bewilderment over what had happened, which possibly led to a firm stance of the Chinese Government in order to prevent reoccurrence of similar incidents.

Even though not all of the embassies in Beijing are set up by barbed wire entanglement, in fact, entrances of all foreign embassies are now blocked by either wires or ropes in order to bar trespassers. Furthermore, security guards in Beijing are carrying a club. Especially, security patrolling nearby South Korean embassies has been further beefed up and currently 6 security officers are patrolling the road in front of the main gates of the embassy. However, there has been no official word by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on the recent security crackdown near the foreign embassies.

North Korean's Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo, 4 May 2002. International civil rights activists and North Korean defectors appealed to the international community to stand up to resolve human rights infringements in the secluded country, at a hearing held at the US House of Representatives on May 2. The six-hour-long marathon session received international attention and was covered by major media, including CNN.

The hearing can serve as an opportunity to bring the human rights concern in the North to the surface in the US as well as internationally, but it should also give a wake up call to the South Korean government and its people who have been indifferent and given the cold shoulder to their kin's suffering. Seoul has been reluctant to discuss any issue that might make Pyongyang uncomfortable, and the voices concerning the terrible reality of suppressed North Korean people were often ignored.

The North Korean people's human rights improvement should be a priority, not only in South-North relations but also in Pyongyang's relationship with the international community. One of the basic reasons to talk to Pyongyang is to give hope to the North Korean people, suppressed under the most autocratic Kim Jong Il regime. We have to watch if the Bush Administration, which will dispatch Ambassador Jack Pritchard for negotiations with Pyongyang for the first-ever high ranking official meeting, will maintain its concerns on the human rights issue.

The German doctor and advocate for North Korean refugees, Norbert Vollertsen, insisted at the hearing that the only way to save the North Korean people is letting the world know the reality there. In addition to hoping that the series of events of directing the world's eyes on the North’s situation, such as hearings on religion and human rights, we have to all take more active steps on the matter.

312 NORTH KOREANS HAVE DEFECTED TO SOUTH KOREA THIS YEAR

The Associated Press reported that a total of 312 DPRK citizens have defected to the ROK in the first four months of this year, said the ROK government intelligence agency Saturday. The figure was more than half of the total for all of last year, when 583 DPRK citizens fled to the ROK, and equaled the 312 refugees who fled in 2000. In 1999, 148 DPRK citizens fled to the ROK, up from 71 in 1998. Most DPRK defectors have said they fled hunger and political repression. In April alone, 74 DPRK defectors made it to the ROK, said the National Intelligence Service in a news release. ("312 NORTH KOREANS HAVE DEFECTED TO SOUTH KOREA THIS YEAR," Seoul, 05/04/02)

Harsh Prison Regime in North Described for U.S. Lawmakers

JoongAng Ilbo, 3 May 2002. Before a U.S. House International Relations subcommittee, North Korean prison camp survivors testified Thursday on the communist regime's observance of humanitarian and human rights. They told the subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of inhumane treatment and of a defection attempt being turned away by the South Korean Embassy in Beijing. Lee Young-kook, a North Korean prison camp survivor and former bodyguard of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, described his experiences at the Yodok political prison in the North. "I was allowed to eat only 130 grams of corn a day, along with a watery soup, but was forced to work for 15 hours daily," Mr. Lee said. Kim Sung-min, a former North Korean People's Army captain, said, "Contrary to the outside assumption, even soldiers are starving in the North." According to Mr. Kim, his company lost 12 men during one year in the early 1990s due to malnutrition. Mr. Kim is now the director of the North Korean Defectors Volunteer Group and a leader of the Committee to Help North Korean Refugees in the South.

At the hearing, Representative Ed Royce, R-California, said a significant number of North Korean defectors have been arrested in China by the Chinese authorities and sent back to the North. He urged that Beijing stop these repatriations. Lee Sun-ok, a former female inmate of the Kaechon political prison in the North, testified on baby killings, experiments on living prisoners, public executions and religious persecution within the camp. Ms. Lee also testified that she and her son went to the South Korean Embassy in Beijing in 1995 and surrendered. She asked to be sent to the South, but two embassy personnel drove them away, threatening to call the Chinese police. She and her son defected to the South later that year. "I am a Korean," Ms. Lee said. "I want to ask my government why I cannot testify on North Korea's human rights concerns there. "Whenever I stand before the U.S. congress, I feel ashamed."

VOW ON MISSING JAPANESE

China Daily reported that DPRK strengthened signs it is seeking better relations with the outside world on April 30, agreeing to intensify a search for missing Japanese nationals Tokyo says were abducted decades ago. A Japanese official hailed the agreement as a step towards upgrading relations with DPRK, although the DPRK has said several times before it would look into the missing Japanese, said the report. A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said that April 30's agreement could mean the DPRK would use its state-controlled media and a poster campaign to help trace the missing Japanese, it reported. "They have agreed to explore the ways and means to deepen, to enhance the level of their investigatory activities," said Kenji Hiramatsu, director of the Northeast Asia division of Asian and Oceanian Affairs bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. "This is a stepping stone for the next stage of relations with North Korea," he said. ("VOW ON MISSING JAPANESE," Beijing, 05/01/02, P8)

The Humanitarian Situation and Refugees in North Korea

Médecins Sans Frontières, 2 May 2002. Testimony presented to the United States House of Congress Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific on May 2, 2002 by Sophie Delaunay, Regional Coordinator for North Korea, MSF. For more information, see Additional testimonies of North Korean refugees regarding the situation.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to testify before you in the name of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and share with you our experience and understanding of the crisis affecting North Koreans in need of food assistance inside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as well as of the plight of North Korean refugees in China. MSF operated inside North Korea from 1995 to 1998. During this time, MSF attempted to supply drugs and provide medical training for approximately 1,100 health centers, and to run 60 therapeutic feeding centers for malnourished children in three provinces of the country. Convinced that, despite the best efforts of our field teams, our aid was not reaching those most in need of aid as intended, MSF made the painful decision to withdraw from North Korea in September 1998. Since then, MSF has remained deeply concerned about the situation inside North Korea and explored alternative ways to reach the most needy...

N.KOREA AGREES TO RESUME SEARCH FOR 'KIDNAPPED' JAPANESE

Agence France-Presse reported that the DPRK agreed to resume searches for missing Japanese whom Tokyo alleges were kidnapped by the DPRK, as part of a Red Cross accord. Under the deal the DPRK agreed to investigate the whereabouts of 11 Japanese nationals identified by Japan who says they were seized by DPRK agents from 1978 to 1983. According to a joint statement issued at the end of two days of discussions between Red Cross officials from the countries, Japan said it would also look into the cases of DPRK citizens who disappeared in Japan before 1945. DPRK authorities would undertake an "in-depth investigation" into the matter in cooperation with Red Cross officials and would "inform the Japanese side of its results quickly," the statement said. The two sides also agreed to a fourth round of home visits by Japanese spouses living in the DPRK this summer, while further Red Cross talks would be held in an unnamed location in June, it added. Japanese officials counseled caution Tuesday despite the agreement.

"It's premature to assess the future course of our bilateral relations with North Korea," Kenji Hiramatsu, director of Northeast Asian Affairs at Japan's foreign ministry, told journalists after Tuesday's talks. "To achieve the final goal of normalized relations with North Korea, it is important to solve the issue of the abductions." However, "the situation is now moving forward and there is a kind of favorable trend for more dialogue between Japan and North Korea," he said. Hiramatsu said the Japanese public would not accept the resumption of official talks between the governments without real progress on finding the missing Japanese. ("N.KOREA AGREES TO RESUME SEARCH FOR 'KIDNAPPED' JAPANESE," 05/01/02)

SOUTH KOREA APPEALS TO CHINA ON DETAINED NORTHERNERS

Reuters reported that the ROK appealed to the PRC on Tuesday not to repatriate three DPRK defectors arrested while trying to climb over the wall of the ROK's embassy in Beijing, an official said. The three were among five DPRK citizens who tried to slip past heavy security surrounding the ROK's embassy in Beijing in the latest of a string of asylum bids by refugees from the DPRK. The two others also failed to get into the embassy, but fled and escaped arrest. ROK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hang-kyong relayed an appeal to the PRC ambassador to the ROK, Li Bin, a ministry official said in Seoul. "We conveyed our position that it should be dealt with in accordance with humanitarian considerations," said deputy ministry spokesman Kim Euy-taek. He declined to say whether the ROK had offered to accept the three DPRK defectors, as the ROK has done in recent similar cases involving 28 asylum seekers. ("SOUTH KOREA APPEALS TO CHINA ON DETAINED NORTHERNERS," Seoul, 04/30/02)

Defector Succeeds in Beijing Gantlet Try

JoongAng Ilbo 27 April 2002. A North Korean who climbed the two-meter wall of the German Embassy in Beijing and asked for asylum Thursday evening will be allowed to leave for South Korea, Seoul officials said Friday. Officials of China, Germany and South Korea quickly reached a deal to send the defector, a 24-year-old architect identified only as Mr. O, to Seoul by way of Manila.

Mr. O's flight came 40 days after 25 North Koreans stormed the Spanish Embassy in Beijing seeking asylum. Diplomatic sources said Mr. O, hoping for a better life in the South, had escaped North Korea in 1999 and was acting on his own when he approached the tightly guarded embassy. Last month's incident had been carefully coordinated by international non-government organizations. China had beefed up security measures around foreign embassies and conducted intensive monitoring of people moving in groups ever since the Spanish Embassy was successfully penetrated last month.

These incidents pose a diplomatic dilemma for Beijing, which is bound by a treaty to repatriate North Korean defectors to their homeland. Experts said China would likely make security measures around embassies still tighter. The Chinese government made no statement, but experts said it may have judged that it could not repatriate the North Korean refugee and face the world's harsh criticism.

Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor who helped organize the Spanish Embassy run, said Friday that more North Korean refugees are on their way to make similar attempts. The German Embassy said Chinese officials were "taking a very constructive approach," in reaching a reasonable solution. The South Korean government called for the defectors to be dealt with under "humanitarian guidelines."

PYONGYANG, BEIJING MUM ON DEFECTORS

Joongang Ilbo reported that three DPRK defectors who sought asylum in ROK after entering two embassies in Beijing have arrived at Seoul's Incheon International Airport. The two defectors, Kim Mun-ok and Kim Ok-sil, both in their early 20s, arrived early Saturday, one day after another DPRK defector, O Se-hyeok, climbed the walls of the German embassy compound. Talks to send the two defectors to a third country and then to Seoul proceeded smoothly, an official at the US Embassy in Beijing said. The PRC Foreign Ministry has not issued any comment on the incidents. The PRC is bound by treaty with DPRK to repatriate North Korean defectors. Chu Gyu-ho, director general for Asian and Pacific affairs at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, said the expatriation of the defectors reflected a humanitarian approach to such issues by the PRC. (Oh Young-hwan, "PYEONGYANG, BEIJING MUM ON DEFECTORS," Seoul, 04/28/02)

N KOREAN REFUGEE SET TO LEAVE GERMAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING FOR PHILIPPINES

Agence France-Presse reported that a DPRK refugee who scaled the wall of the German embassy in Beijing and claimed asylum will be allowed to leave for the ROK via the Philippines, officials said. The swiftly-brokered deal ends a potential diplomatic headache for the PRC just hours after the man clambered into the embassy compound and pronounced himself, according to an embassy spokesman, "unwilling to leave." His arrival on Thursday evening came little more than a month after 25 DPRK defectors burst into the Spanish embassy in the Beijing and sought refuge, threatening suicide if they were sent home. Philippine foreign ministry spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said that as "a humanitarian gesture," the man, whom it named as 23-year-old Hae Jon, would be allowed to transit through Manila. According to a German doctor who has campaigned on behalf of DPRK refugees, and has said he was involved in organizing the Spanish embassy asylum bid, "More North Korean refugees are on their way," Norbert Vollertsen said in a statement. ("N KOREAN REFUGEE SET TO LEAVE GERMAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING FOR PHILIPPINES," 04/26/02)

Did They Have to Pierce Their Nose?

Chosun Ilbo, 25 April 2002 (Translated by Kimberly Walsh) Along the banks of Tumen River in Tumen, China, North Korean security agents linked around 100 defectors by their noses with wire to repatriate them back to North Korea by truck. This shocking testimony witnessed by an American citizen is a humiliation to the Korean people, which can only exist in a slave society. What kind of political system needs to violate human rights in order to maintain their system? Regardless of the current existing system, the North Korean government needs to protect their people from harm and provide them with basic rights.

Concerning the harsh control, treatment and oppressive climate on the defectors, the North Korean political power’s effect is in fact by far a greater loss than gain. Today in the international society, human rights abuses such as this case of ‘chained pierced noses’ cannot exist anymore. Last month’s incident of the 25 defectors presented the intervention actions of the international humanitarian organizations. The international human rights community is becoming more aware of the issues of the political prison camps and defectors of North Korea. Therefore, the human rights issue along with the weapons of mass destruction creates an obstacle for the international community to open dialogue with the North Korea government.

Also, China needs to take partial responsibility for the situation of these North Korean defectors. The Chinese authorities must have given approval or assistance to the fully uniformed North Korean security agents who dragged the defectors by their wired noses. Even though the Chinese government has stated that the North Korean security agents cannot operate within China, it opposes the testimony that recently came out. They need to adopt appropriate measures by thorough investigations. Furthermore, the Korean government should not disregard this issue either. The Korean government’s policy toward North Korea is not only for the North Korean government but also for improving the life of the North Korean people. Thus, the Korean government should not be afraid of connecting economic aid with North Korean human rights issue anymore.         

N.K. Defectors Sent Back with Wire Piercing Noses: Witness

NKChosun, 24 April 2002. An American who was in the Chinese city of Tumen, very close to the border with North Korea, on business last week said Tuesday that he witnessed about 100 North Korean defectors being led back to their country by North Korean agents with their noses tethered to a wire. 'Last week, I was in Dandong, Tumen and Jilin, and the day I was in Tumen, they were loading up 1.5- and 2-ton trucks (with North Koreans) and pulling a wire through the people's noses. They pulled them out and threw them on to the trucks. They tied the wires up to pikes on the trucks,' The American, who asked to be identified by the alias Bill, said in a mobile phone interview between the Chinese province of Fujian and Seoul.

SUCCESSFUL DEFECTORS AVOID OTHER DEFECTORS

Chosun Ilbo, 14 April 2002. Recently, 24 more North Korean defectors arrived in Seoul seeking asylum, according to the national Intelligence Service, bringing the total for the year to 238 and the grand total to 1,800. Many of them experience hardship in adapting to life in the South and only a few achieve measurable success.

Thirty-four year old Ahn Hyuk is one of the successful North Koreans, running a movie making company. Ahn's current project depicts life in a North Korean concentration camp. He is typical of the new breed of bon vivant, enjoying skiing, snow boarding and night clubs, while remaining single, saying marriage is the only thing he fears. Ahn defected from the North in 1992 and studied at a university in Seoul for four years. He says he understood that to be recognized in Korea he had to make money and be well known, as it is difficult for people from the North to get admittance to society in the South. After graduation, Ahn worked as a consultant for companies doing business in North Korea and made money in the stock market, currently having billions of won in investments. He says he avoids meeting other North Korean defectors because all they talk about is their hometowns, and he is far removed from their average lifestyle. Among North Koreans, he notes that there is a rapid diversification into age groups and class levels, with younger ones taking up capitalism and adapting to Seoul life. However, Ahn estimates that only around 2% are truly successful.

Choi Sae-woon, aged 41, is another success following defection in 1995, running a venture company that develops software for foreign currency dealing on the Internet. His firm's paid in capital is W1.8 billion and his wife runs a North Korean restaurant. Choi said at first he was frustrated about the "wall" around South Korean society and drank heavily, while thinking of going to another country. He started the restaurant with his wife and developed friendships with their customers and eventually got the money for his venture firm. Choi and his neighbors in Ilsan play golf once a week and no one looks down on him for coming from the North.

Lee Choong-guk is an oriental medicine practitioner who graduated from Kyunggi University's Department of Oriental Medicine. Lee works out at a health club after work and enjoys fine wine at up market wine bars in Gangnam. He buys only designer goods and he too remains unmarried. Lee left North Korea in 1994 when he was in the army, as he was not allowed to join the Workers Party due to his father being from South Korea. Not being a member of the party means not getting promotion. Lee admitted having second thoughts about defection, the first time he returned home while crossing the Yalu River. He said that having abandoned one society he felt he had a duty to succeed in another one to demonstrate to North Koreans he had made the correct decision. Lee says he likes Seoul very much as anything is possible, but he also has little contact with
other North Korean defectors

A man named Kim, aged 34, who defected in 1992, is a high-salaried professional enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in Seoul. He too is single, but possesses a nice apartment and car. Kim's main interests lie in the stock market and real estate, and he recently made a big profit selling an apartment. He said he has to make a lot of money to enjoy his life and help his family still in North Korea. Kim said that the only thing the defectors had in common was that they had come from the North and asked why South Koreans regarded them as all the same without distinction. "Do South Koreans regard everyone from the same region as the same?" he questioned.
 

MORE NORTH KOREAN FAMILIES FLEE TO SEOUL

Reuters reported that the ROK has reported the arrival of 24 more defectors, including a school teacher and three families, from the DPRK. The arrivals brought the number of DPRK defectors to have reached the ROK this year to 238. Last year, a record 583 people defected. ("MORE NORTH KOREAN FAMILIES FLEE TO SEOUL," Seoul, 04/14/02)

KOIZUMI TO RAISE ISSUE OF ABDUCTIONS

The Japan Times reported that Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi indicated Thursday that he will seek the PRC's help in settling allegations that the DPRK abducted Japanese citizens when he meets with PRC Premier Chu Rong Ji on Friday. "I want to discuss with Premier Zhu, Japan's stance of urging sincere measures from the North," Koizumi said on the airplane to the PRC. Koizumi, who will be in the PRC for three days, will meet Zhu on the sidelines of the first annual conference of the Baoa Forum for Asia on Hainan island, southern PRC. Koizumi also said he would try to confirm the PRC's position regarding Japan's claim that at least 11 Japanese were abducted to the DPRK in 1977 and 1983, apparently for espionage training. ("KOIZUMI TO RAISE ISSUE OF ABDUCTIONS," Haikou, 04/12/02)

China Said to Step up Defector Watch 

JoongAng Ilbo, 11 April 2002. A North Korean support group in Seoul on Thursday said the Chinese government has installed cameras along the Chinese-North Korean border to deter North Korean defectors. "Since the March 14 incident involving 25 North Korean asylum-seekers, the Chinese authorities for the first time have placed cameras along the banks of the Tuman River," an official with the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights said. The North Korean support group official added that there are signs that the Chinese are employing more technical means to catch Koreans fleeing north to China; some instruments that appear to be audio sensors were also spotted. Shortly after last month's storming of the Spanish Embassy by the group of North Koreans, the support group sent a team to north-eastern part of China to survey the Chinese countermeasures. Some photos of the monitoring equipment can be seen at www.nkhumanrights.or.kr , the group's Web site.

Recurrence of Harsh Punishment on North Korean Defectors

Chosun Ilbo, 10 April 2002 (Translated by Sangwook Kim, NKHR)

The North Korean government clamps tight control over the defectors’ issue once again as the food rationing system is paralysed and attention is drawn from the international community. Especially, the treatments towards the repatriated are severe that they serve at least one year in a forced labour camp. Thus, North Korean defectors in China become more reluctant to return. 

In 2000, North Korean officials were ordered to take benign steps toward the defectors. Defectors who seemed not to be politically involved received exceptionally light sentences, only a week or a month of detention. Individuals who have re-defected have reported the changed attitude of the Agency for National Security Planning and the North Korean society. This change in attitude was to attract the defectors in China to return without any feelings of uneasiness. However, this action by the North Korean Regime is too late with the rapid increase of re-defection cases and the returnees' roles as primary sources of information about the outside world. The North Korean people have no choice but to confirm the everlasting attribute of their political system. Since the recent incident of the 25 North Korean defectors who entered the Spanish Embassy seeking asylum, a number of the repatriated have been sent to local security facilities. According to Mr. Gil-young Shin, who recently escaped from North Korea again, the merciless investigation of security agencies, a hard whipping and torture have resumed. When the defectors are brought out to the public, the North Korean people spit and throw stones at them. The repatriated are grouped by their birthplace and then taken over to local security agencies.

It is reported that the defectors undergo physical examinations first, regardless of their sex, by the security agents. After the examination, they have to provide statements about their lives in China repeating their stories until all doubts are cleared. When their statements are not consistent, they are beaten and tortured. Above all, if their contacts with the South Koreans or missionaries are revealed, they are sent to a political prison camp, however defectors are usually not willing to admit to such suspicions due to the harsh punishment. Yet, they are compelled to admit their guilt and receive the penalty when specific evidence is uncovered. Defectors who are not politically involved are placed in a labour training camp, which is located in every city or county, for one year or so. A defector considered to have committed more serious offences are sent to a labour rehabilitation camp, which are notorious for their severe compulsory work orders and felonious assaults and is comparable to the political prison camps. However, hope still remains for the repatriated, who can offer bribes in which case they serve around 3 months at a labour training camp rather than a year at a rehabilitation camp. 

CHINA SAID TO STEP UP DEFECTOR WATCH

Joongang Ilbo reported that a DPRK support group in Seoul on Thursday said that the PRC government has installed cameras along the PRC-DPRK border to deter DPRK defectors. The DPRK support group, the Citizens' Alliance for DPRK Human Rights, official added that there are signs that the PRC are employing more technical means to catch Koreans fleeing the DPRK to the PRC; some instruments that appear to be audio sensors were also spotted. (Lee Young-jong, "CHINA SAID TO STEP UP DEFECTOR WATCH," Seoul, 04/11/02)  

RED ARMY'S HOUSE FOUND

The Asahi Shinbun reported that two houses in a wealthy area of Zagreb in the former Yugoslavia are believed to have been used by former Red Army faction members as bases from which to lure Japanese to the DPRK, sources said. Japanese police are investigating whether the houses were used by the hijackers of a Japan Airlines passenger jet in 1970 to concoct a plan to entice Keiko Arimoto, then 23, to the DPRK. According to courtroom testimony given by Yao in a case involving the wife of another Red Army faction member indicted for passport and other violations, Yodo group leader Tamiya, who died in 1995, instructed her in May 1985 to entice Japanese nationals into going to North Korea. Yao went to London and approached Arimoto, telling her she knew of a good job opportunity. Yao returned to Zagreb after arranging to meet Arimoto again. She then consulted with DPRK Vice Consul Kim Yu Chol, based in Zagreb at the time, and with Yodo member Kimihiro Abe, 54, on how to deal with Arimoto. (Toru Igarashi" RED ARMYS HOUSE FOUND," Zagreb, 04/08/02)

EU Hinted to Review Plan for ‘Appropriate Countermeasures’ on Current North Korean Human Rights Situation

Yonhap News, 9 April 2002. European Union (EU) strongly indicated that if the current situation of North Korean Human Rights violation continues, it would review more specific countermeasures including adopting a resolution to denounce North Korea to the international human rights organizations including the UN Commission on Human Rights. In the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, amid the overall assessment on global human rights infringement situation, the EU has mentioned the Human Rights issue in North Korea, following Afghanistan and the Middle East case. In its statement, EU has claimed that more extensive, continuous and serious Human Rights infringement is being perpetrated in North Korea. Urging North Korea to get involved in dialogue about human rights with the EU, the institution stated that it would keep a close eye on the future development of North Korean human rights situation keeping in mind to review on improving measures for human rights related forums including the next UN Commission on Human Rights. Such announcement by the EU is the first time that specifically pointed out a review possibility for appropriate measures concerning North Korean Human Rights and placed North Korea ahead of China in the ranking of human rights infringement. 

Experts and authorities involved with the UN Commission on Human Rights put forward their analysis on EU’s current announcement of appropriate measures that appeared to be considering a presentation of a resolution on North Korean Human Rights infringement by the UN Commission on Human Rights. It is known that the EU has made a quiet consultation with South Korea concerning the issue of presenting the resolution intending to denounce the human rights violations in North Korea prior to this session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Particularly, the EU has also expressed its deep concern over North Korea’s violation on the civil and political rights and lack of respect for the economic, social, and cultural rights. With such premise, it tried to push North Korea towards providing easier access for international humanitarian aid organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

It also demanded that North Korea should fully and duly implement engaged international treaties including the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural rights, International Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Along with this, it also urged North Korea’s signature and ratification for the International Convention against Torture and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. On declaring its active cooperation by providing relevant information on UN Human Rights organizations, it also recommended North Korea to come to the dialogue table with the UNHCHR. Lastly, relating to humanitarian issues such as family reunion visits between the North and South in accordance with the North and South Korea Summit Meeting that took place 15 June 2001, the EU also urged North Korea to take actions for prompt settlement. 

Using Mass Media to Protect Human Rights 

Korea Herald, 4 April 2002. While those in the media business, including myself, often do not fully realize the power of mass media in society, there are quite a lot of people who not only well understand the power but also make full use of it. While talking with Norbert Vollertsen, the German doctor internationally known for his revelations on human rights abuses in North Korea, last week, I felt he is no doubt one of the people in the latter group. More frankly speaking, I got the impression that he is an expert in the area. 

I came across him on the street near the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul and asked him to meet me for an interview at his convenience. He more then welcomed my suggestion and we met again at the hotel lobby two hours later. When he met me, he had just finished an interview with a U.S. paper. He said he had appointments for interviews with a local television network and some foreign media the next day. He would then leave Seoul to visit Japan, the United States, Germany and some other European countries, where he would meet with the media and participate in international conferences on human rights issues. 

After having met so many journalists over the past year, Vollertsen, who orchestrated the defection to South Korea of 25 North Korean refugees in Beijing last month, seemed to have almost mastered the art of briefing the media. The black leather bag he was carrying was full of materials explaining his past activities not only in North Korea but also in Germany and other countries. 

While he was talking about his experience in North Korea from July 1999 to December 2000, he showed me the "friendship medal" and the certificate that he had received from the North Korean government for donating his skin graft for a burn victim. He said it was the first of its kind given to a foreigner. He also showed me his driver's license from North Korea, which was a privilege that the medal brought for him, and even a picture of him undergoing surgery for the skin donation. 

The activist physician said he welcomes any national and international movements as long as they are helpful to his efforts to draw the media's and therefore the people's attention to the North Korean problem. In the same context, he likes recent remarks by U.S. President George Bush that North Korea, along with Iran and Iraq, forms an "axis of evil." 

"I liked very much Bush's speech on the axis of evil because it created attention about North Korea. I don't want to discuss now if it is right or wrong, if it is too simplistic or not. I do not know Bush. Maybe I can make a decision (on the issue) after I have talked with him. Now, I like it because after his words, there have been quite a lot of discussions in America on North Korea," Vollertsen said. 

The same was true with his testimony at the U.S. Congress last year. While he was speaking at the hearing about the human rights conditions in North Korea, he said, he knew that those who hold hard-line views on North Korea in the United States were using him to strengthen their position. But he did not care because by speaking at the U.S. congressional hearing, he also was able to generate more media attention. "They are making use of me but at the same time, I also make use of them for my own purpose, in a sense," he said. 

To be continuously covered by the media, however, he needs more than that. So he plots events and incidents. His attempts to cross the Military Demarcation Line at the truce village of Panmunjeom to North Korea and another attempt to enter North Korea at the Chinese border last year along with foreign journalists were good examples of such efforts. More recently, he held a one-man rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, which, unfortunately, failed to draw much media attention. 

But in general, he has been quite successful in obtaining media support and attention. He said he is not afraid of anything because of the media support. "Support from the media is like life insurance. Because of it, I feel quite secure and I feel as if I have a big army watching my back," he said. 

Despite his efforts to criticize North Korea concerning its human rights condition, however, he said he feels more comfortable with people in North Korea than those in the South. "Many of the people I met in North Korea were innocent, not tainted by capitalism and warm-hearted. I felt more of this after I met people in the South. Maybe those images of North Koreans are of the more original Koreans." 

Vollertsen said he supports the "Sunshine Policy" that the South Korean government has pursued for years for engaging North Korea. He said it would help the North Korean regime initiate changes. But that is not enough. At the same time, somebody should take the lead in criticizing North Korea in order to induce changes in the human rights condition in the communist country. Isolated foreigners like him or NGOs could continuously raise human rights issues, but a more concerted approach in the international community is necessary to solve the North Korean problem, he said. 

Refugees: A New McCarthyism 

Asia Times, 5 April 2002. The last two Pyongyang Watch columns focused - not obsessively, I trust - on the good Dr Norbert Vollertsen. One criticized him for badmouthing those who support engagement with North Korea. The other, while applauding his success in helping a few refugees to freedom, wondered about the price inflicted on the many left behind - and the overall effect of such stunts in helping or hindering progress with Pyongyang. Someone who shares these worries is Thomas McCarthy, an agricultural development consultant who in that role has traveled frequently to North Korea. In an article titled "China and North Korean 'refugees'" - more on those quote marks later - on the ever-excellent Nautilus website, written before the "Spanish Embassy 25" put refugee issues firmly in the public eye, McCarthy voices concern at some themes of a conference on North Korean human rights held in Tokyo in February. Needless to say, Dr V was much in evidence, even then threatening to "create a flood" of refugees. Patently he means it. 

McCarthy wants those who urge what he calls "less than fully thought-out humanitarian initiatives", and in particular efforts "to 'internationalize' migration issues on the China-North Korea border", to "reflect for at least a moment on the almost certain consequences of their actions". He goes on: "China is no more likely to tolerate this sort of international intervention than would the United States in, for example, Texas. At a minimum, China can simply tighten its borders with North Korea and refuse entry to would-be migrants or temporary workers, thereby solving everybody's 'refugee' problems. At worse [sic], it could also decide to ask the foreign NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and church groups that it has allowed to work in Yanbian [the ethnic-Korean district in Jilin province, abutting North Korea] to end their humanitarian and missionary work and leave the country. The clear losers would be the North Koreans living in border areas."

As a political prediction, that now sounds prophetic. McCarthy adds that all states control their borders, and China fears opening the floodgates. True. But he then switches gear from realpolitik, and tries to tell us that Beijing is really Mr Nice Guy. He's right that China is North Korea's main aid donor, but that, too, is surely realpolitik: they'd much rather be paid, but have given up trying. He also praises China for letting United Nations and NGO donors working in North Korea use China as a base - but is that a big deal? Surely Beijing can see that these agencies are helping stave off a collapse of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is exactly its own aim. 

But then McCarthy goes way over the top. He claims China has "allowed - and often actually facilitated" NGO and missionary groups working in its border areas. Grudgingly tolerated would be more like it. The picture I get, from all other sources, is more like what Perry Link of Princeton; writing in the New York Review of Books, in a brilliant metaphor calls "the anaconda in the chandelier". China today is far freer than before, but the limits are deliberately vague. You tread carefully, for fear the big snake might strike.

And strike it does. Outrageously, McCarthy claims China has "extremely tolerant policies" toward those whom (you may have noticed by now) he apes Beijing in refusing even to call refugees - except in those weasely quotation marks. Well, an Amnesty International report aptly named "Persecuting the Starving", and a host of press reports over several years detailing manifold abuses, tell a very different story. At best, China turns a blindish eye. But it reserves the right, and exercises it ever more often, to crack down mercilessly. For McCarthy to add that "China is no less concerned than [NGOs] about human suffering" is the last straw. Next up, he'll be telling us how much Beijing has done for those poor, backward folks in Tibet. 

The best way to help North Korea, McCarthy says, is "admitting [it] to the World Bank and IMF" (International Monetary Fund). In fact, a country has to apply to join these bodies, which Pyongyang shows no sign of doing - because it would entail tiresome duties like publishing economic data. This is a red herring, but it reveals McCarthy's true colors - and an important split in the aid community. McCarthy is an insider, electing to work for change within the DPRK and its system. So perforce do UN bodies such as the World Food Program and the Children's Fund (UNICEF), plus the Red Cross and some NGOs. Others, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam, quit after deciding that the North Korean system is itself the problem. Still other NGOs and church groups work outside, along the border. No one has managed to keep working both within and without, although World Vision tried to for a while. 

The trouble is that some insiders, who have to be diplomatic, dismiss border NGOs as troublemakers; while the latter riposte that the former are bureaucrats aiding Kim Jong-il, not his people. Yet to me both internal and external aid is valid, indeed complementary. Sure, if North Korea ever gets a sensible farm system, refugee flows would stop. But until then, these people need and deserve help. Above all, basic human rights entitle them to be called refugees. Sociologically, true cross-border migration is complex. Most North Koreans entering China seek food and/or work, but their desperation deserves better than that other weasel word, "economic migrant". And once they are caught, repatriated and brutalized, hunger breeds anger and they flee again - this time for keeps. But Thomas McCarthy would rather we didn't make a fuss about all that - whereas Norbert Vollertsen wants to open the floodgates. Can't we find some middle ground here?

Japan's reactionary media hogwash blasted

Pyongyang, April 5 (KCNA) -- A string of hogwash floated by some reactionary media of Japan after the release of a statement by a spokesman for the central committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society is an unpardonable mockery of the Korean nation and an affront to the public, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary. It goes on: These media are making much ado about the non-existent issue of "kidnapping" by the DPRK, talking rubbish that "the DPRK is employing tactics to escape from isolation" and "has yielded to someone's pressure." It is not difficult to guess why these media acted in concert to spread such false reports. 

It is intended to build up public opinion in favour of evading the settlement of Japan's past crimes, a core issue related to the DPRK-Japan relations. Explicitly speaking once again, Japan's redress for its past crimes is a core issue related to the DPRK-Japan ties and nothing can be expected unless this matter is settled. The diatribe of these media rattling the Korean people's nerves only hardens their resolution and will to employ every possible means and method to force Japan to pay for its past crimes in the present generation. Japan's media are well advised to be impartial and stop such wrongs as misleading the public opinion and barring Japan from redeeming its past crimes. 

The Big Push

Far Eastern Economic Review , 3 April 2002. The defection of 25 North Koreans in Beijing will trigger more escape attempts and more repression. In the days after March 14, when 25 North Korean defectors rushed past a bewildered Chinese guard at the Spanish embassy in Beijing, the reprisals in China began. Around 150 North Korean secret-police officers crossed into China, according to a witness. Their mission, he said, was to conduct searches for North Korean defectors who had entered China. "We saw the North Korean soldiers visiting houses to find defectors," the Rev. Kim Young Shik, a South Korean human-rights activist who was helping defectors in China's northeast border towns at the time, told the REVIEW. "We recognized them easily because North Korean security officers are always very thin, their faces are sunburned, and they moved quickly, like soldiers."

China's Foreign Ministry strenuously denied to the REVIEW that North Korean security forces crossed the border, but says it will crack down hard on North Korean migrants, saying that they are illegal immigrants, not refugees. Some say the recent embassy defections will spur mass repatriations of North Korean defectors. That happened last year when a family of seven North Koreans was deported to Seoul after entering a United Nations office in Beijing and refusing to leave. But this crackdown could be worse, as it appears that China is cooperating with large numbers of North Korean police to send defectors home to face imprisonment, torture, and possibly death. "If that's true we have a big problem," says a South Korean activist.

The crackdown could also complicate behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to free a prominent South Korean human-rights activist detained by China on December 30 of last year. The REVIEW has learned that Chun Ki Won has been held since then in the Inner Mongolian city of Hailar. Detained with him is a Chinese-Korean activist. But activists see the positive consequences of the Spanish embassy operation outlasting the negative ones. News of the 25 defectors' escape and their speedy deportation to South Korea via the Philippines spread quickly, thanks in part to a secret press conference held by the defectors before they made their dash to freedom. A South Korean activist in Seoul says he has received an average of four calls a day to his cellphone from defectors in China since that day. "They say, 'we heard about the escape, but we're running out of hope. Please rescue us'."

Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor who spent 18 months as an aid worker inside North Korea and helped plan the Spanish embassy operation, predicts a deluge of refugees as word seeps into North Korea. He vows further operations, pointing out the situation couldn't get much more dangerous for defectors in China anyway. "It will become a flood," says Vollertsen. "They can try to stop 25 maybe, but not 250,000." That's exactly what North Korea and China fear. Human-rights groups say there are 150,000-300,000 Korean defectors hiding in China. Chinese officials acknowledge that there are North Koreans who have crossed the border into China, but decline to estimate their numbers. Beijing refuses to grant these migrants refugee status for fear of throwing open the floodgates. And there are political reasons, too. China has a treaty with North Korea requiring it to repatriate defectors.

China says the Spanish embassy incident won't set a precedent, and vows to crack down hard on migrants. "These are people who have illegally crossed the border. They are not 'refugees'," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement to the REVIEW. "The problem of illegal border crossing is a global problem." China's ambassador to South Korea has warned of damage to bilateral relations following the defections. That worries South Korea, which cherishes the diplomatic ties it set up with China in 1992. And Seoul may wish to tread carefully on human-rights issues to preserve President Kim Dae Jung's troubled attempts at dialogue with Pyongyang. More crackdowns will only fuel the desire for freedom in the North. One activist recalls: "I've been at meetings with defectors who've said: 'We don't care even if we die, we'll risk going to South Korea'."

Refugees: Much Fame, Small Gain

Asian Times, 29 March 2002. Part of the fun of penning a weekly column is fitting it in around other commitments. My last piece was filed ahead of a week in Korea - the other Korea, since you ask. I took issue with Dr Norbert Vollertsen, self-appointed scourge of North Korea and all those whose shades of gray he rejects as appeasement. But Korea never stands still, and nor does Dr V - dubbed "hyperkinetic" by one newspaper in one of many interviews in the wake of his latest triumph. 

This of course was the high-profile rush by 25 North Korean refugees into the Spanish Embassy in Beijing. From there they were swiftly whisked off, first to the Philippines, then on to Seoul and freedom. Nice one, Norbert. Two cheers. To give the good doctor his due, he sure practices what he preaches. Unlike a mere wordsmith like me, he puts himself on the line. This was a well-organized media coup all around. New clothes for the 25 as they traveled to Beijing, so they didn't stand out like a shabby sore thumb. Good timing, before a United Nations human-rights review of China. Careful targeting: the Spanish Embassy - unlike the German, his first choice - was lightly guarded (not anymore), and Spain currently holds the European Union presidency.

The media side was well handled too. A TV crew tipped off and hiding in the bushes, ready to film the dash for freedom. Even the Financial Times of London printed the photo. A well-chosen group, comprising families and a couple of orphans. Prepared press statements, eloquently stating the risks these ordinary people, whose only crime was hunger, faced if returned again to the tender mercies of their own government. 

North Korean refugees are an issue close to my heart. Three years ago I was commissioned to write a biggish report on the whole issue for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. (This used to be on the UNHCR website, but it seems to have vanished in a site revamp.) I've also done two updates since, and at this rate will be penning another. All along I've warned that the trickle of recent years could turn into a flood, and berated all states involved - both the Koreas, and China - for treating these innocents so badly. But heart and head conflict. Obviously I'm glad for the 25, as for the seven before them who last summer fled to the UNHCR's offices in Beijing; and after a longer standoff were also let go to Manila and Seoul. It's good to see China shown up for its disgraceful policy of refusing to accept any North Korean escapees as refugees - nor even to let the UNHCR work in the border areas to do interviews and decide for themselves. 

For a minute, the speed with which this incident was resolved even made me think China had softened its line. Fat chance. Instead, just like the UNHCR last year, the predictable price of escape for a few was a brutal crackdown on the many left behind. Reports from border areas even speak of uniformed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) security men operating openly (as they've long done in plainclothes) alongside their Chinese colleagues: raiding ethnic-Korean homes and churches, and hauling off anyone they find to an uncertain fate. 

All this I know is thanks to - you guessed - the indefatigable Dr V, whose breathless daily e-mails report the backlash and exhort us all to protest. But this is where it gets iffy. What did he expect? In arranging this stunt, did he carefully weigh the costs and benefits? Or is the name of the game confrontation and publicity, even if this creates more suffering than it resolves? Is there a game plan, a strategy in all this? 

Vollertsen even feigns surprise that since this episode and all the attendant publicity, his own visa for China hasn't been renewed. Disingenuous or what? That's his own choice. More serious will be if others of the plethora of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) - mainly South Korean and religious - working with North Korean fugitives in China's northeastern border areas, who preferred to operate quietly in the admittedly limited and variable space tacitly granted by Beijing in letting them be there at all, now find themselves restricted or booted out. 

Will the net effect of this be to increase the sum of human welfare? Can't say I see it. And while Vollertsen's sincerity is transparent, his tongue runs away with him. His next trick, he openly threatened, would be to organize refugees to protest at the soccer World Cup, which - as if you didn't know - is being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan for a month from late May. Again, the idea is to get maximum publicity. And again, the target is well chosen - not least because Seoul expects Chinese fans to pour in by ferry in the tens of thousands to cheer on their team. Shouldn't be hard to sneak in a few refugees. 

But again, questions arise. One: If you're going to do that, was it wise to put South Korea on alert? Two: Knowing how desperately seriously Seoul takes these big occasions when it displays itself to the world - as in the 1988 Olympics - isn't there a risk that pulling any stunts and raining on the parade will cause an official and/or popular backlash against Northern refugees in the South? 

And considering that in the end it is South Korean citizens and taxpayers who must bear the financial burden of both today's defectors and - take a very deep breath - tomorrow's unification, is stirring up antagonism really the way to go? Then again, some of Vollertsen's critics stick in my craw more than he does. But that's another column. 

North Koreans Face China Raids After Defections 

Business Recorder, 30 March 2002. The recent defection to South Korea of 25 North Koreans through Beijing has brought terrifying police raids upon the tens of thousands of North Koreans hiding in China, relief workers said in interviews this week. A crackdown by Chinese and North Korean police was launched shortly after the arrival in Seoul in March 18 of 25 North Koreans four days after they rushed into the Spanish embassy in Beijing, demanding passage to South Korea. China said the decision to let that group fly on to Seoul via Manila did not mark a shift in its policy of forcefully repatriating North Koreans, who it views as illegal immigrants, not refugees entitled to asylum.

"When the police come to get illegal immigrants, they don't even carry arrest warrants. They just break the door lock and rush into the house to get them,' said Kim Young-ja, secretary-general of the Citizen's Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. There were no exact numbers of those rounded up but other aid groups told Reuters last week that hundreds had been detained and sent back to North Korea. Most seek food, not asylum, said South Korean NGOs, while deploring the Chinese crackdown and what they say is China's violation of international refugee treaties, acknowledge that Beijing has a point when its says many North Koreans are short-term economic migrants.

"South Korea can't ask China to recognise all of the North Koreans in China as a refugees because only five to 10 percent of all North Koreans in China actually want to go to South Korea or a third country," Kim said in an interview. "The other 90 percent of them want to go back to the North after they get food," she said. As many as 300,000 North Koreans fled to China after successive floods and drought, compounded by years of economic mismanagement, triggered famine.

On Thursday, the World Food Programme chief in Pyongyang, David Morton, told Reuters that food going through North Korea's public distribution system had dwindled to 300 grams per day, less than the daily 500 grams provided in a refugee camp. Lee Seung-yong, co-ordinator at the International Peace Human Rights & Refugees Center Good Friends, said the estimate of 300,000 refugees was a peak figure from 1998-99. Crackdowns and slightly better harvests had reduced that number, he said. "Most of the refugees cross the border just to avoid starving to death, not to come to South," he said, adding that most are now temporary exiles in China.

Regular North Korean incursions: Lee said last week's raids in which North Korean agents crossed into China and worked with local police were not the first. North Korean agents hunting refugees came at a rate of "150 or 200 a month, mostly staying one or two months", he said. But the mass defection would make things worse, he said. "Once something like this happens, the Chinese government assigns a quota for every policemen to arrest North Koreans. Quotas will now be larger than before," he predicted. Defectors from North Korea and human rights groups report a large network of camps which hold as many as 200,000 political prisoners, including people caught fleeing. But Lee said punishments for those caught and returned vary. "North Korea doesn't impose harsh punishment just for crossing the river on the border to find food," he said. "The North doesn't consider them political criminals simply because they've been to China," Lee said. "But if refugees meet South Koreans or South Korean intelligence agents in the mainland, or became Christians, they will be sent to prison camps for political criminals," he said. 

Amnesty International Concerned Over Hunt for Immigrants 

JoongAng Ilbo, 01 April 2002. Amnesty International expressed concern Sunday that the Chinese government`s recent announcement of a renewed crackdown on "illegal immigrants" in April is aimed at North Koreans. The announcement comes in the wake of an incident earlier this month when 25 North Koreans stormed the Spanish Embassy in Beijing and demanded asylum. "We have received recent reports of a massive round-up of North Koreans who are fleeing starvation and persecution. The Chinese government has repeatedly failed to take into account the plight of those in need of protection, continuing to insist that all North Koreans are illegal immigrants," the agency said. 

AI also said it has received reports of a crackdown on religious and human rights groups assisting North Korean refugees. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is barred from visiting border areas and providing appropriate assistance, it claimed. "We reiterate our appeal to the Chinese government to review its policy towards North Korean asylum seekers and ensure that they are given access to a fair and independent asylum procedure. Until then, the authorities should cease detentions and forcible repatriations," it said.

Tens of thousands of starving North Koreans have fled their country over the past few years, crossing the border to China`s north-eastern provinces of Jilin and Liaoning. Many are forced to hide in the hills along the border and survive by scavenging, begging or stealing, Amnesty said. Others have been given support by China`s ethnic Korean community and foreign aid organizations, or have found work in local farms and enterprises, it said. Their illegal status makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and harassment. Various sources have reported that some North Korean women have been subjected to human trafficking, it added.