NORTH KOREA FREEDOM WEEK
April 22-29, 2007
April
24, 2007
Dear
Friends:
It
gives me great pleasure to provide another update on the events confirmed for
North Korea Freedom Week April 22-29, 2007. I believe this year's events will
be more significant and have a greater impact than any in the past. It is
critical to the growing movement for human rights in North Korea for as many people to
participate as possible as the movement continues to gain great momentum. We
will have many heroes -- North Korean defectors, former jailed humanitarian
workers, leaders in government and the NGO community from several nations --
with us that week.
Even
if you cannot come to Washington, D.C., everyone can be a part of the Saturday, April 28,
12:00 noon International Protest against China's Violent Treatment of North
Korea Refugees --occurring around the world at Chinese embassies and
consulates.
Warm
regards,
Suzanne Scholte, Chairman, North Korea Freedom Coalition
Confirmed Events for North Korea Freedom Week 2007
(as
of April 24, 2007)
Monday, April 23 - Thursday, April 26
North Korea Genocide Exhibit
Time: Open Daily 9 am to 5 pm
note below: Special VIP Ribbon Cutting Event Tuesday, April 24 at noon
location: Ebenezer's Coffeehouse, 201 F Street, NE (near Union Station),
Washington, D.C.
organizers: Sin U Nam, Moon Gook Han, Nathan Hill
sponsor: International Coalition to
Save the North Korean Slaves
Monday, April 23
2-3:30 pm Panel on Failure to Protect: A
Call to the UN Security Council to Act on North Korea
Confirmed speakers: Soon-Kyung Hong, Chairman of the North Korean Defectors
Association, DLA Piper Attorney Jared Genser, and Debra-Liang Fenton, Executive
Director of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
location: DLA Piper, 1200 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC
organizer: Debra Liang-Fenton;
sponsor: U.S. Committee for Human
Rights in North Korea, DLA Piper
RSVP: hrnk_org@hotmail.com
Tuesday, April 24
9:30-11:30 am Panel: INFORMATION
IS POWER: The Future of Radio Broadcasting Into North Korea
Confirmed speakers: Kim Seung Min (Director of Free North Korea Radio),
Ambassador Mark Palmer of Freedom House, John Fox of I-Media, Blanquita Cullum
of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Libby Liu of Radio Free Asia and Jay
Henderson of Voice of America
location: Freedom House Ballroom, 1319 18th Street, NW, Wash, D.C.(Dupont
Circle MetroSouthside)
organizer: Jessica Barnes; sponsors: Freedom
House, Broadcasting Board of Governors and Free North Korea Radio.
Contact: Barnes@freedomhouse.org
12:00
noon VIP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: North
Korea Genocide Exhibit
Confirmed speakers: Congressman Ed Royce, Huh Kwang-il, President of the
Defector’s Association for Unification, Kang Chul Hwan of the Committee to
Democratize North Korea, Teruaki Masumoto and Yoicha Shimada of the
Japanese Rescue Movement
location: Ebenezers Coffeehouse, 201 F Street, NE near
Union Station
organizers: Sin U Nam, Moon Gook Han, Nathan Hill
sponsor: International Coalition to
Save the North Korean Slaves
3-5
pm Panel to discuss "Who's Afraid
of North Korean Regime Collapse"?
Confirmed speakers: Nick Eberstadt of AEI, Tom Malinowski of Human Rights
Watch, Bruce Bechtol
location: American Enterprise Institute, 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036
organizer: Nicholas Eberstadt, Chris Griffin sponsor: American Enterprise Institute
3:-4:30
pm Congressional Human Rights Caucus:
Humanitarian Emergency: North Korean Refugees in China chaired
by Congressman Tom Lantos
location: 304 Cannon House Office Building
organizer: Hans Hogrefe sponsor: Congressman
Tom Lantos, Congressional Human Rights Caucus
See below for the official notice from Congressman Tom
Lantos and Congressman Frank Wolf, co-chairs of the Congressional Human
Rights Caucus.
Also below is the complete eyewitness list.
Thursday, April 26
3-5 pm Panel on Religious Persecution
in North Korea, followed by a reception
Confirmed speakers: Michael Cromartie of USCRIF, Congressman Trent Franks,
North Korean defectors and now church leaders Eom Myong-Heui and Sung Gyu Lee,
Open Doors President and CEO Carl Moeller
location: The National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
20045
Holeman Lounge, Reception following in 1st Amendment Room
Please RSVP your name, title, organization by Apr 13 to lindsayv@odusa.org
organizer: Lindsay Vessey sponsor: Open Doors
Friday, April 27
12:00 Noon Capitol Hill Lunch Forum:
"Promoting Freedom and Human Rights for North Korea" with
All Visiting North Korean Defectors; Confirmed: Leaders of all the North Korean
defector led NGOs working for human rights in North Korea including Hong Soon-Kyung,
Huh Kwang-il, Kim Seung-Min, Kang Chul Hwan, Ahn Hyok, Park Sang Hak, Lee
Min-Bok, Eom Myong-Heui, Kang Hak-Sil, Lee Sung-Gyu, and very special guests
Phillip Buck, Choi Yong Hun, Moon Kook Han, Teruaki Masumoto, Yoichi Shimada,
and Fumiyo Saitoh
location: B-339 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Please RVSP (Required)
by COB Apr 26 to skswm@aol.com (Lunch included at $30)
organizer: Suzanne Scholte Honorary Congressional Host: Congressman
Ed Royce
sponsor: Defense Forum Foundation
7
pm Special Prayer Service for North
Korea and the North Korean Defectors
location: The Falls Church, 115 East Fairfax Street, Falls Church, VA
22046 www.thefallschurch.org
organizer: Pastor Heemoon Lee and NKFC Prayer Committee, PSALT
sponsor: North Korea Freedom Coalition
Saturday, April 28 (North Korea
Freedom Day Anniversary!)
11:30
am Music, Program starts at 12:00 noon International
Protest Against China's Violent Treatment of North
Korean Refugees
location:
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, DC and their PRC embassies and consulates around the world; city
and country organizers include: PSALT (New York), Gail Beilitz (Houston),
Lindsay Vessey,Youngshok Choi and Tom Byun (Los Angeles), Paul Davis
(Chicago); Sin U Nam, Jeff Park, James Ham, Pastor Heemoon Lee, Suzanne Scholte
(Washington, D.C.), Marianne Bruning and Annechien Weening (Netherlands) Open
Doors (Switzerland and Germany); Willie Fautre (Brussels), Abraham Lee and
Peter Jung (Seoul)....
sponsor: North Korea Freedom Coalition, Open Doors, International Campaign
to Block the Repatriation of North Korean Refugees
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Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC)
Briefing:
Humanitarian Emergency: North Korean Defectors
in China
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Room: 304 CHOB
Please join the
Congressional Human Rights Caucus for a briefing with North Korean defectors
who fled North Korea to the
People's Republic of China
(PRC). The briefing will take place on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007, at 3:00 pm in
room 304 of the Cannon
House Office
Building. The briefing is
open to the public and the media.
Despite the
hope that the recent Six-Party-Talks agreement (Russia,
China, United States, North
Korea and South Korea
and Japan) would restore aid
to North Korea
to help alleviate that country's horrendous humanitarian situation, no concrete
results have so far been achieved. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) remains one of the most repressive, isolated, and militarized countries
of our time. The famine of the mid-nineties and the decision of the
government to cut food purchases caused the death of an estimated one million
people and triggered a flood of refugees. The regime, under the absolute rule
of Kim Jong Il, controls every aspect of the life of
its citizens, denying freedom of speech, religion, the press, assembly and
association. Approximately 150, 000 to 200, 000 persons are believed to
be held in detention camps, many for political reasons.
Facing this
grim situation in their homeland, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have
crossed the border into People's Republic of China (PRC). Chinese
authorities claim that because the North Koreans crossed in search of food,
they are "economic migrants", not bona fide refugees, which are
protected under the UN Refugee Convention and its Protocol. The PRC has therefore
not granted access to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). Instead, China's
policy has been to repatriate defectors back to North Korea where they face
imprisonment, torture, and sometimes execution for the "crime" of
leaving their homeland. Humanitarian workers who are caught attempting to feed
and shelter the defectors and help them escape through the underground
railroad are also subject to harsh prison sentences.
To discuss
these important issues, we will welcome a large delegation of North Korean
defectors who escaped through China
and will hear from:
Rev. Phillip
Buck, humanitarian work
Choi Young Hun, humanitarian work
Lee Sung Gyu, Secretary, United Group of Ministers for North Korean Refugees
Mrs. Chiba Yomiko, Defector to China
Suzanne Scholte, President of the Defense Forum Foundation
We look forward
to seeing you at this important briefing. If you have any questions,
please contact Sarah Burns (Rep. Lantos) at x5-3531 or Molly Miller (Rep. Wolf)
at x5-5136. For media inquiries, please call Lynne Weil at x5-5021.
Tom Lantos,
M.C.
Frank R. Wolf, M.C.
Co-Chair,
CHRC
Co-Chair, CHRC
*************************************************************************
NORTH KOREA FREEDOM COALITION
Suzanne Scholte, Chairman
Website: www.nkfreedom.org
Media Contact: Jerry Dykstra 616-915-4117
Eyewitneses to
Atrocities in North Korea and
China Arrive for North Korea
Freedom Week
Only Known Survivor of Yantai Boat People Incident, Jailed
Humanitarian Workers, Torture Survivors Among
Witnesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April
24, 2007) – Today, the North Korea Freedom Coalition released the list of
eyewitnesses who arrived in Washington, D.C., to present evidence to
Congress and the administration of the atrocities being committed in North
Korea and China. NKFC is sponsoring North Korea Freedom Week
April 22-29 to promote the freedom, human rights, and dignity of the North
Korean people.
Among
the witnesses are Chiba Yomiko, the only known
survivor of the Yantai Boat incident of 2003 when over 86 North Korean refugees
attempted to reach freedom by boat. All were rounded up and
repatriated against their will to North Korea. She will be
testifying in Congress on Tuesday, joined by the humanitarian
worker involved with the rescue attempt, Choi Young Hun.
Choi spent nearly 4 years in a Chinese prison for trying to help the
refugees. Both will be testifying for the first time of the horrific
treatment of North Korea
refugees at a hearing being chaired by Congressman Tom Lantos, chairman of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Other
witnesses at events during the week will include political prison camp
survivors, torture victims, refugees who were repatriated from China,
and family members of citizens abducted by the Kim Jong-il regime. Eight major
leaders of the North Korean defectors organizations working to end the Kim
Jong-il dictatorship will also participate.
The
U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and DLA Piper will host the
first panel session: Failure to
Protect: A Call to the UN Security Council to Act on North Korea
on Monday afternoon at 2 pm at DLA Piper's offices which will include former
North Korean diplomat Hong Soon-Kyung, now the Chairman of the North Korean
Defectors Assocation who defected in 2000.
North
Korea Freedom Week also includes: the North Korea Genocide Exihbit, panels
on the economic benefits of regime collapse and on the persecution of
Christians, a Capitol Hill Forum, a prayer vigil, and a worldwide
demonstration at Chinese embassies and consular offices around the world to
protest China's
violent treatment of North Korean Refugees.
"Kim
Jong-il's strategy is to keep the world's attention focused on his
nuclear weapons," said NKFC Chairman Suzanne Scholte. "Our strategy
is to focus the attention on the real issue: human rights and the fact
that over 3 million people have already been killed by his dictatorship,
making his regime the most brutal in the world today."
"We
hope that the public will participate in as many events of North Korea
Freedom Week as possible to learn about this country and meet the brave and
courageous individuals who have triumphed over extreme adversity to live
in freedom and fight for human rights in their homeland," said
Scholte.
The
North Korea Freedom Week witness list follows below. For a complete
list of the North Korea Freedom Week events, go to www.nkfreedom.org. To set
up an interview with Suzanne Scholte on North Korea Freedom Week, contact Jerry
Dykstra at 616-915-4117. The North Korea Freedom Coalition a bipartisan
coalition of over 60 organizations.
North Korea Freedom Week 2007
Delegation
I. Representing the North Korea Defectors Organizations
Fighting for Human Rights
II. Special North
Korean Eyewitnesses to Refugee Situation and Christian Persecution
III. Rescuers including former Jailed Humanitarian
Workers
IV. Special Guests and Eyewitnesses to Abductions by the Kim Jong-il
Regime
I. Representing North Korea Defectors Organizations Fighting for
Human Rights
HONG Soon-Kyung,
Chairman of the North Korean Defectors Association and Vice Chairman of the
Exile Committee for North Korea Democracy (ECNKD); A 1964 graduate of the Kim
Il Sung University, Hong worked in the Trade Department of the DPRK, and from
1991-2000 was a Trade Consular at the DPRK Embassy in Thailand. He
defected to South Korea
in April, 2000. He served as researcher from 2001-2004 at the Unification
Policy Institute in South
Korea. He was born in North Korean in
1938.
HUH Kwang-Il, President of the Defector’s Association
Preparing for Unification, the defectors organization planning for the
transformation of North Korean into a democracy, and a Vice Chairman of the
ECNKD; Huh is a graduate of the Chong-jin Ship Building College of Engineering
and served in the DPRK military from 1971-1979. He served in the
Chong-jin Ship Building Company and as chairman of the North Korea Forestry
Company in Russia
from 1986-1995. While in Russia
he was able to contact his uncles in South Korea
through KBS, but when the DPRK security found out, he defected to South Korea
in May, 1995. He currently works for the Korea Electric Power Corporation, Huh was born in North Korea in 1954.
KIM, Seong-Min, Director of Free North Korea Radio, the
defectors organization broadcasting news and information into North Korea. Kim was born in
North Korean in 1962. Kim attended both high school and elementary school
in Pyongyang before serving in the 243rd Army
unit from 1978-1988; He then attended Kim Heong-Jik
Teachers College
graduating in 1992, and went back into the Army again as a second lieutenant and
became a Captain and then worked as a writer/director for 212nd Army Unit,
Propaganda Unit. In September,1996, he escaped
to China but was repatriated
and then in February, 1997, he tried fo defect from Dalian, China
but was arrested by the Chinese police and repatriated again. While
traveling from Onsung to Pyongyang to face
punishment for leaving the country, he jumped the train to escape to China
again. He worked as a laborer at a coal
factory in Yenji, China,
until his uncle in South Korea
helped him to escape to South
Korea. He attended Yonsei University
and Graduate School
at Joong Ang University
where he received a Master of Arts. In
2004 he founded “Free North Korea Radio” which was available on the internet
beginning April 2004, but also began broadcasting on shortwave in December 2005
with regular daily broadcasting beginning in April 2006.
KANG Chul Hwan, founder of the Democracy Network Against the NK Gulag, and author of the Aquariums of
Pyongyang. Kang’s grandfather was a successful businessman in Japan, but his grandmother, a committed
socialist, convinced the family to return to Japan
in the mid-1960s to help build Kim Il-Sung’s Paradise.
The family ended up at Yoduk Political Prisoners Camp. Kang was sent to Yoduk
with his grandparents when he was 8 years old and spent 10 years of his
childhood inside the camp. After his release from Yoduk, he began listening to
South Korean radio and decided to escape. Along with Ahn Hyuk, another camp
survivor, he came to South
Korea in August 1992. He had the opportunity
to meet President George Bush, who was inspired by his book. He now works
as a reporter for South
Korea’s leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo.
PARK Sang Hak is the Representative of the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag and a Vice Chairman of the
Exile Committee for North Korean Democracy. A member of the elites from Pyongyang, Park is a graduate of Kim
Cheak Industrial
University and worked at a Propaganda
Unit in Pyongyang
until 1999. His father was a North Korean spy in charge of collecting
information about South
Korea. Park came to realize that South Korea was much better off than North Korea
and he decided to defect. He escaped to South Korea in March,
2000. He was born in North Korean in 1968.
PARK Kwang-il Editor of Justice Magazine. Recently
confirmed, bio forthcoming.
LEE Min-Bok is the Representative of the North Korean
Christian Defectors Association and works at a church for North Korean
defectors in South Korea.
He helped found the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights with Rev.
Yoon Hyun and founded Save North Korea with Kim Sang Chul. He is a graduate the
Technical College
in Soon-cheon City,
Pyung Nam
Province and a graduate from Nampo University
in Nampo City. In North Korea he worked as a researcher for the Institute of Science
of North Korea.
While conducting research, he found that private farms outproduced the collects
and therefore recommended reforms that would help avert starvation. On
May 31, 1990, he proposed to Kim Il-sun and Kim Jong-il that North Korea should follow the example of China
to open up and reform to solve the food crisis. He was castigated for not showing confidence in the
regime. Threatened with arrest, he fled to China
but was arrested and sent back to North Korea and imprisoned by the
National Security Bureau. He escaped again in June 1991 through Russia and went to Moscow and was granted refugee status by the
UNHCR. He came to South
Korea in 1995.
KIM Min Sung is currently studying theology and is graduate of Presbyterian
College and Theological Seminary in Seoul which he attended after he defected from North Korea.
He worked at a refinery in Haeju as a supervisor and graduated with BA in
geophysics from Kim
Il Sung University.
He was born in North Korea
in 1968.
II. Special North Korean Eyewitnesses to Refugee Situation and
Christian Persecution
EOM Myong-Heui is an Assistant Pastor of a church for North
Korean defectors under the support of Rev. Cho Yong-Ki of Yoido Full Gospel Church.
Eom was a math and biology teacher in Moosan,
North Korea,
until she married and became a full-time housewife. She was known as a
loyal party member and received a medal of honor in 1996 for her loyalty to the
regime. During the famine she started a business selling specialty foods to
support her family and worked with a Korean Chinese partner who was a
businessman/Christian missionary associated with Yoido
Church (Seoul). She became a very successful
businesswoman traveling around the country freely to buy and sell specialty
foods. During that time the regime had eased up and “with money you
can do anything.” As a former biology teacher she questioned Darwinism
and discussed this with her Christian business partner, and as a result of
their discussions, she converted to Christianity. When her partner was
arrested and severely tortured he revealed to the DPRK authorities that Eom was
a Christian, and she was soon arrested. She was held in a detention
center in her hometown of Moosan where she adamantly denied her faith: “I would
not accept that stupid religion.” She could not understand why whether
she was a Christian or not was such a concern to the regime. In Moosan
both the police and the Public Security Bureau were involved with questioning
and torturing her: poking her head with sharp objects, stepping on her fingers
with heavy boots, withholding food and drink, making her stay in one position
for extended periods of time and making her write a statement over again and
again to see if there were any discrepancies in her story. Because of her
past loyalty to the regime, the authorities eventually released her. She
decided to escape to China
where she was arrested twice and told “if we arrest you again, we will kill you.”
She eventually made it to South Korea
after incredible trials and hardships traveling on her own through Burma and Thailand. She was held in a
detention center in Thailand
for 6 months where she started a Bible Study. She finally made it to South Korea
in 2002. After two months in Hanawon, she went to Yoido Church
and presented herself there stating: “I am a member of your church.”
LEE Sung Gyu: is a Freshman at the
Chong Sin Seminary and the secretary of United Group of Ministers for North Korean
Refugees (group that is made of 70 members who are North Korean refugee
ministers). He established Yeol Bang Sam Church in September, 2004, with
a vision to raise up 400 North Korean missionaries and
re-establish 250 churches in North
Korea. In North
Korea, he attended Chong Jin Railroad School
and was employed by the North Korea Defense Headquarters. He defected
from North Korea
in February 1999. In March while hiding in China
he became a Christian at a Korean-Chinese church in Jilin Province
and became involved in the underground church. In September 2001 he was
arrested by Chinese authorities and repatriated to Sin Ui Joo where he was
imprisoned for two months and saw the persecution of Christians in
prison. He escaped North Korean again in October, 2001 but was arrested
in Hwa Ryong China,
and repatriated where he was once again sent to prison. He was
miraculously released from prison in December 2001 eventually escaping North Korea
in February 2002. From March, 2002, he began his escape to South Korea to travel from China to Vietnam
to Cambodia where he
eventually arrived in South
Korea on July 24, 2002. He was born in North Korea
in 1973.
Mrs. Chiba Yomiko, has family still in the
regime and is using this Japanese alias to protect them. She was born in
Japan of Korean parents and returned with them to North Korea when she was 3 years
old. As a member of the “elites”, she graduated from Changangoo University
and became a teacher of traditional dance and sports at a college in Sinuiju. She lived
well and had support from family in Japan, so she shared her food with
others. She and her students often traveled to Pyongyang. She became disenchanted with the
Kim Jong-il regime when she and her students were forced to bury famine
victims. She started to speak out against the regime in 1996 and was
threatened with arrest. She hid for three years, eventually escaping to China.
She tried to escape during the boat people incident, but was caught and when
the Chinese attempted to repatriate her to North
Korea, she tried to commit suicide knowing what she faced
in North Korea.
She eventually escaped to Japan
with the help of a Japanese NGO. She is one of the few known survivors of
the Yantai boat people incident and an eyewitness to the violent treatment of
the Chinese authorities towards North Korean refugees, their own citizens and
citizens of other countries who try to help the refugees.
III. Rescuers including former Jailed Humanitarian Workers
MOON Kook Han - the
rescuer of the Gil Su and the Han Mee North Korean refugee families, Moon was
part of the underground railroad until the Chinese
became aware of his activities and he was threatened with arrest. Moon
continued his activism and founded the International Coalition to Save the North
Korean Slaves and started the North Korean Genocide Exhibit which opened in Seoul in 2004 and as part of its World Tour will be in Washington, D.C.
for North Korea Freedom Week.
BUCK Rev. Phillip Buck (“John Yoon”)-- an American citizen jailed for 1 1/2
years in China
for helping North Korean refugees. Phillip Buck was born in North Korea
but was separated from his family during the Korean War. He lived in South Korea until he immigrated to the United States in 1982 becoming a U.S.
citizen in 1989. A pastor for 35 years in Seattle, Washington, he was sent by
his denomination to work as a missionary in Russia in the early 1990s and then
he expanded his ministry to work in China where he saw the suffering of the
North Korean refugees and became a rescuer, sheltering and feeding 1000s of
North Koreans who had fled to China and helping over 100 reach freedom in South
Korea. He changed his name to Phillip Buck from John Yoon, when he
realized the Chinese were trying to capture him under the name John Yoon.
The Chinese succeeded in capturing him on May 9, 2005, while he was in the
midst of an operation to help get 30 more North Koreans to freedom in South Korea.
The Chinese authorities were thrilled when they found out they had captured the
famous John Yoon, the so- called “Big Fish” whose crime was helping refugees.
For a year and half, Rev. Buck was kept in prison in China until his release in August,
2006.
CHOI Yong-hun, a South Korean businessman and humanitarian
worker, was seized by Chinese authorities on January 18, 2003, in Yantai City, Shandong
Province, as part of the “boat people” incident in which rescuers were trying
to help 86 North Korean refugees escape China by boat. The operation
was leaked to Chinese authorities as Choi was working to bring the 86 together
for their escape. Choi spent 3 years and 11 months in jail, of his 5 year
sentence, and was released on November 29, 2006. While in prison the
Chinese allowed other prisoners to beat him, and he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder after his release.
IV. Special Guests and Eyewitnesses to Abductions by the Kim
Jong-il Regime
Teruaki Masumoto, of Japan, is the Secretary General of
the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea
(AFVKN). His own sister, Rumiko, was one of the citizens Kim Jong-il’s
regime admitted kidnapping. Masumoto has worked with the Japanese Rescue
Movement to continue to raise awareness of the abduction issue and has been
able to prove the international scope of the issue: collecting evidence and
interviewing family members of other abductees to find that
in addition to hundreds of Japanese citizens being abducted under Kim
Jong-il’s order, there are at least 12 countries whose citizens were abducted.
Professor Yoichi Shimada is a Professor of International Politics
at Fukui Prefectural University
and Vice Chairman of the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese
Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN). A graduate of Kyoto University,
he testified before the House International Relations Committee on the
abduction issue in April 2006. He was raised in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Ms. Fumiyo Saitoh’s younger brother, Kaoru Matsuki (born, 1953),
was abducted by North Korean agents in 1980 from Madrid. He was then a graduate student of Kyoto Foreign
Language University
temporarily studying in Spain.
Mr. Kaoru Matsuki was born in 1953. Japanese police believe that Red Army
members and their wives harbored in North Korea were involved in his
abduction. After former Prime Minister Koizumi’s first visit to North Korea,
the regime disclosed that DPRK agents brought Matsuki to the North on June 7th,
1980. He was then being used as a Japanese language teacher at a spy
school. North Korea
has handed alleged ashes of Mr. Matsuki to the Japanese officials twice.
However, jaw bones didn’t match his physique and the DNA profiles identified
from part of ashes were found different from those of Matsuki.
##