11/28/2007

Dear Friends:

We are releasing this summary report of information on the escalating crisis facing the North Korean refugees and to urge you to take part in the International Protest Against China's Violent Treatment of North Korean Refugees occurring around the world at noon on November 30 and December 1. Following the report is an update on the events in different US cities and countries -- every U.S. city with a Chinese embassy or consulate will have a demonstration and eleven nations have joined so far.

Whereever you are in the world, please remember we need your voice!

Warm regards,

Suzanne Scholte

NORTH KOREA FREEDOM COALITION FACT SHEET: NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE CRISIS

China’s Crack Down on North Korean Refugees Intensifies in Preparation for Olympics: PRC Hopes to Eradicate Refugee Population Before End of this Year

In preparation for next summer’s Beijing Olympics and fearful that their brutality against North Korean refugees could be exposed to the world, the government of China has stepped up its repatriation of refugees in an effort to eradicate them before the end of the year. In violation of international law and the treaties to which it is a signatory, China continues to force refugees back to North Korea to face certain torture and imprisonment, and even execution, for the crime of fleeing their famine-stricken homeland. China jails humanitarian workers who try to help refugees, refuses the UN High Commission for Refugees access to the North Korean asylum seekers, and blocks the refugees from seeking resettlement in countries willing to resettle them. Their policy has led to the most avoidable human rights tragedy in the world today and led to over 80% of North Korean women to be exploited by human traffickers, sold into brothels or to Chinese men as sex slaves or "wives", and North Korean men to become slave laborers, while North Korean children become abandoned and stateless.

The North Korean refugee crisis is unique in that they are the only refugee population that have a place to go as they have South Korean citizenship under the Republic of Korea constitution and the United States has consistently offered resettlement for those who qualify.

News organizations and NGOs have reported that over the last several years efforts have been underway to seal the border, where there have been over 500,000 border crossings by North Korean refugees over the last ten years. Many crossed over to China and returned to North Korea with food and money to feed their starving families. While efforts are underway to seal the border, China is working in cooperation with North Korean officials to track down and repatriate the North Korean refugees with a goal of 100,000 repatriations before the end of the year.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China highlighted the escalation in its Annual Report for 2007: "The Commission notes that numerous reports by international humanitarian workers in the region that during the past one to two years, the Chinese government has intensified its efforts to forcibly repatriate North Korean refugees, in part as a security preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games."

The increasing cruelty of the Chinese government in defiance of international law, led Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA) and Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) to introduce a resolution calling on China to halt its forced repatriations. The resolution unanimously passed the U.S. Congress on October 23, 2007.

The International Parliamentarians Coalition for North Korean Refugees' Human Rights (IPCNKR) met in August 2007 and issued a joint statement calling for China to respect the international treaties it has signed with respect to the North Korean refugees and accused China of "unjustly arresting and detaining those persons who are providing them with humanitarian assistance." Co-Chaired by Honorable Hwang Woo Yea (South Korea National Assembly), Honorable Masaharu Nakagawa (Japanese Diet), Honorable Ed Royce (United States Congress), and Honorable Lamjav Gundalai (Mongolia House of Counselors), the ICPNKR has continued to grow in size with 111 parliamentarian members representing 36 countries now part of its membership as international lawmakers become increasingly concerned over Chinese treatment of the North Korean refugees.

Because of the difficulty of freely traveling to the border area and visiting the towns where there are refugees, the following information is pieced together from different news accounts and NGO reports to highlight the increasing desperate situation.

American businessman Steve Kim (jailed in China from September 2003- September 2007) reported in October 2007 that Chinese and North Korean authorities were now using jailed North Korean refugees to lure out humanitarian workers and other refugees. The jailed refugee would be given the promise of a reduced sentence if he would contact a humanitarian worker asking for assistance or other refugees via cell phone, so that they could be arrested. Kim also said that North Koreans were treated more harshly than others in Chinese detention centers: they had prisons within the prison for North Koreans who were regularly beaten and shackled. He told a Capitol Hill audience in October: "I had a dog, pretty wild, so I kept him chained by his neck and tied him to a hook on the ground. North Korean refugees’ fate are the same as my dog. When they are arrested, they are handcuffed, put in chains, fixed to a hook on the ground. But the dog can move around, but North Korean refugees cannot. Only from front to back, not left and right, can they move. This is what’s happening in China, the country that is hosting the Olympics and calling for a harmonious world." (October 19, 2007, Defense Forum Foundation transcript)

In October Chinese security forces used force to prevent four South Korean diplomats from helping a group of four North Korean defectors who had taken refuge in a South Korean run international school in Beijing. (Yonhap News, Reuters, 10-9-2007, 10-10-07 and 10-11-07)

Humanitarian workers involved in the rescue of North Korean government report that working in concert with the Chinese government, “the North Korea government has sent several hundred secret agents into China to capture North Korean refugees working with the Chinese government.” Some are posing as South Korean husbands and wives to lure North Koreans out of hiding. "The plan of the North Korean regime is to send the repatriated North Korean refugees to political prisons or to kill them without mercy." (Joshua, humanitarian worker reporting from Asia 8-27-07)

During the summer months, refugees were caught and rounded up in Inner Mongolia attempting to escape via Mongolia. According to Free North Korea Radio, forty-four North Korean refugees who were heading to Mongolia were arrested in Inner Mongolia near the border of Ullen City and are in danger of being repatriated.

The 44 refugees were arrested over a twenty day and all were scheduled to be repatriated. "The Chinese authorities have recently tightened the border patrol, and all the routes which used to be considered safe are no longer safe," according to Free North Korea Radio. (Free North Korea Radio Report, 7-4-07)

Included in this round up was the arrest of Yu Sang-Joon, a former North Korean defector who had established South Korean citizenship, who was trying to save the lives of nine North Korean refugees by helping them escape to Mongolia. Yu's wife died of starvation as well as his youngest son, who died in his arms, while his oldest son died trying to escape to Mongolia.

Four North Korean defectors left the China-North Korea border area in late May, 2007, by boat to escape to Japan....According to the Japan Coast Guard, the last time a North Korean boat arrived in Japan in a similar case was in January 1987, when a vessel with 11 North Koreans including a doctor entered Fukui port asking for defection to South Korea. It is highly unusual for defectors from North Korea to come to a coastal area of Japan, according to Public Safety Commission officials. ''We sometimes find a body from North Korea washed up on the beach. But I have never heard of North Koreans leaving the country as 'boat people,''' one of the officials said. In many cases, North Korean defectors first try to get to China. Note: The four were allowed safe passage to South Korea. (June 2, 2007, Kyodo News)

Reports on Activity at North Korea side to seal the border:

Controls Over Incoming and Outgoing Vessels Tightened: North Korea has established the following policies for ships in order to stop their potential use by escaping refugees: the engine starting gear must be left behind when a vessel leaves port; no brothers can leave on the same ship, only 5 litres of petrol may be on a ship, and eight different permissions must be obtained. (North Korea Today, November 2007)

Border Area Inns, Homes Inspected for Spies, Potential Defectors; Border Unit Trains in Marksmanship (North Korea Today, September 2007) Operations to root out spies have started in Siniju, North Pyongan and North Hamgyung Provinces. Daily inspections are being conducted of inns in the border area and also twice daily inspections of homes. Two officers from the national intelligence unit and a police officer first conduct searches of the leader of the neighborhood, and then the neighborhood leader accompanies the inspectors as they search households. According to the Research Institute for North Korean Society, the searches are made at 7 pm and at midnight and are believe to be aimed at discouraging would be defectors, finding spies who would travel to China to report on internal conditions. There have been many arrests and detention of relatives and friends who had travled to the area with the intention of traveling to China. The Institute also reports that the National Border Defense unit began training in marksmanship on August 22, 2007.

"When we know we will die anyway (either killed by punishment or die from starvation), trying to flee is better than waiting for a day of starving to death." -- North Korean residents as reported by Research Institute for North Korean Society, October 2007.

National Defense Committee Works to Close Border: (North Korea Today, August 2007) “On August 1, the National Defense Committee began inspections in the city of Hoeryung. All of the North Hamgyung Province was included in the inspections and the purpose of the inspections was to establish tan emergency contact system for border residents and to close of the national border.” The measures are aimed at stopping North Koreans from leaving the country.

Tougher Security at DPRK-China Border: (Yonhap News, July 12, 2007) The number of refugees steadily grew since 1996, but since 2002 there has been a steady decrease in the border crossings due to tougher security measures.

Border Security Tighter on China/North Korea Border: (Kungghi Daily Newspaper, May 22, 2007) Border patrol has increased and now every 500 meters there are guard posts on the North Korea side. Closed circuit TV is being used along the river. The cost to bribe a border guard has risen substantially.

Border Patrol Now Patrol with Dogs and Dragonov (Russian sniper) rifles (Helping Hands Korea, February 2007) Helping Hands Korea released photos earlier this year of DPRK border guards patrolling with sniper rifles and dogs to track down, apprehend and shoot refugees. In April, HHK heard shots in the middle of the night at the Tumen River.

Border patrol tripled in size: (Yonhap News, February 5, 2007)

DPRK inspection units increased from 100 to 300, tracking cellular phone calls, border patrol guards who accepted bribes, and also searching villages to see if any family members are missing from residents. Due to beefed up security, brokers have given up on rescues.

North Korea Fears Capitalism Infiltration from China Through Border Crossers (NK Central News, January 3, 2007) Captain Cha of the 27th Border Patrol Brigade Unit stationed between Hwae Ryong and Musan City said the DPRK banned any movement between the cities beginning in December, 2006 National Security Agents and Border patrol purged guards who had accepted bribes and help with reunions and are involved in smuggling goods. Border patrol agent duty shortened from 3 to 7 years to one year.

Reports of Activity at China side to seal the border:

Increased Electronic Surveillance, Fencing: (Helping Hands Korea, February 2007) Chinese have installed heat and motion sensors on China side of Tumen and Yalu Rivers and fencing is going up near Sinuiji while vehicles equipped with high-tech equipment are now patrolling border area.

China Builds Fence at N. Korean Border: (October 18, 2006, Washington Post) “China has been building a barbed wire and concrete fence along parts of its border with North Korea.” Concrete barriers areas 8 to 15 feet high with barbed wire strung between them. “Reporters who visited the border area in the past week saw about 1,600 feet of newly erected barbed-wire fencing north of Dandong, mainly along riverbanks, and occasionally broken up by mountains or military guard posts.”

Increased Troops at Border: (October 7, 2004, Sankei News) China posted 30,000 troops at the North Korea-China border. According to Sankei News, Japanese government used satellite surveillance to confirm the build up and reported that the North Korean side has also increased the number of troops.

For further information or to add to this report, please contact the North Korea Freedom Coalition at nkfreedom.org

##