Guard beats
female prisoner |
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On September 25, Free North Korea Broadcasting, a South Korean
NGO, released footage of a female North Korean defector being
beaten and kicked during interrogation on Aug. 17 at a guard
post on the China-Korean border.
The footage was widely reported by the media the next day, including
newspapers and television broadcasters in Japan and South Korea.
Such graphic images of violence are appalling, but it is crucial
for us never to forget that this is only one brief glimpse of
the fate awaiting captured North Korean refugees.
Still images shown at these websites:
Chosun
Journal (English Language)
The
DailyNK (English Language)
Still images and audio playback at this site:
The
DailyNK (Korean Language)
The events in the footage occurred while the 4th session of
the six-party talks were in recess. The talks are focused on
nuclear issues, but these images are a jarring reminder that
awareness must not be allowed to waver from the issue of human
rights in North Korea.
Other videos revealing human rights abuses in North Korea have
been smuggled out in the past. In June 2000, Kang Kon (36), a
former officer in the North Korean Army, defected from the North
and settled in South Korea.
In February 2004 Kang passed along secretly filmed footage of
life inside Yodok labor camp for political prisoners in North
Korea. In early March 2005, North Korean agents abducted Kang
from China's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, according
to reports, which also indicate that he is now incarcerated in
a State Security jail in Pyongyang.
More
details here.
The North Korean authorities recently issued a public statement
urging all humanitarian NGOs and UN groups stationed in North
Korea to leave the country by the end of 2005.
The North Korean regime appears to be fortifying its system
to prevent the outflow of domestic information as part of its
strategy to exercise control over the people in that country.
This suggests that the current egregious violations of human
rights will continue.
Never forgetting that people in North Korea are suffering, we
at LFNKR make one of our major rescue activities the supply of
winter clothing for North Korean refugees hiding in China. This
is carried out through a network of secret shelters. We are currently
preparing for this winter's clothing needs, and you are invited
to help support our "Supply Winter Clothing Campaign."
More
details are available here.
