Candlelight Vigil at the White House, January 19, 2011

Dear Friends:                                                                                 January 25, 2011

Thank you to all who were a part of last week's Candlelight Vigil for the North Korean Refugees -- whether you were there in person, sent in letters asking Hu Jintao to stop the repatriations of North Korean refugees or donated in support of the event, you made this a very successful and special event.  Despite the freezing cold temperatures, we had nearly seventy participants at the vigil, a much larger crowd than we expected.

Lee Jong Sun and his wife drove from Flushing, New York, just to be with us that evening, and we received excellent news coverage of the event -- Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and Free North Korea Radio broadcast news of the vigil into China and North Korea while the Daily NK and Christian Post wrote stories and the event was covered twice in the local Chosun Ilbo and the Korea Times, including front page articles on the morning after the vigil.  We read through the entire list of all the North Korean refugees whose names are known to us as well as cited the incidents in which China has repatriated North Koreans back to North Korea. We are especially grateful to Pastor Hyungshik Sohn and the congregation of the Pilgrim Church, Burke VA, and Dr. Peter Kang and the Korean Freedom Alliance and the Korean Vietnam Veterans Association of Greater Washington for their participation and bringing many to the event. 

With our additional initiatives, we were able to send a letter to President Barack Obama on this issue as well as deliver letters from organizations representing thousands of American citizens to Hu Jintao calling for an end to the repatriations.  In a related development, I am pleased to report that appeals by Members of Congress regarding Chinese human rights issues also included the call to end these repatriations specifically letters by Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen to Hu Jintao and by Congressman Frank Wolf and thirty-one Members of Congress to President Obama.

I am pleased to acknowledge the following individuals for their participation and support for last week's event:

Program: Ann Buwalda of the Jubilee Campaign, Mrs. Ma Young Ae of Pyongyang Musical Missions Association, Pastor Hyungshik Sohn and Pilgrim Church; Peter Kang and the Korean Freedom Alliance and the Korean Vietnam Veterans Association of Greater Washington

For the readers of THE LIST of North Koreans who have been repatriated: Ana Jang, Peter Kang, Grace Kim, Jeremy Shull, June Cha, Mark Danner, Sandy Rios, Mariam Bell, Jee Jee Kim, David Ko, Hyo Sung Choi, and Henry Song

Pastor Heemoon Lee for providing the coffin; Henry Song for the candles and photos of repatriated refugees and

Ana Jang for updating of THE LIST.

Sue Yoon Logan for the website and helping prepare the letters to Hu Jintao.

Gloria Lee of Seoul, South Korea for translating our letter to Hu Jintao to Chinese!

For Letter Writing Campaign to Hu Jintao: Jeff King and International Christian Concern; Dr. Steve Y. Rhee of Oceanside, California; Rev. and Mrs. Myung Sung Suh and Palomar Korean Church of San Marcos, California; Deborah Kang; Pyong K. and Helen H. Park of Encinitas, California; Lisa Madewell of Tennessee; Jon Bauers of Georgia; Rita Vasquez and Anna David of Tucson, Arizona; Yuki Yakabe of Japan; Kwangbae Cho of Seoul, Kim Kyunghe of Fullerton, California, Aaron Peterson of Oregon; Jung Choi; Ike Kim; Jinah Kim-Perek of Oak Park, California.

For their financial support: Hae Ryun and Pyong K. Park; Don W. Joe; and Won Joh and Sukyong C. Koh

Again, many thanks to all who helped raise this issue while Hu Jintao was in Washington, DC.

ACTA NON VERBA,
Suzanne Scholte
North Korea Freedom Coalition