Another 5 still waiting for help
On February 13, the world was rocked by news that Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-un, had been assassinated using VX, a highly toxic liquid nerve agent, at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The Sunday Express (British online newspaper), in its March 12 issue, reported that Kim Jong-un is also thought to have personally ordered the assassination of a British national and an American in retaliation for assisting Thae Yong-ho, formerly North Korea’s deputy ambassador to London, when he defected to the West in August last year.
For more details on that story, click here.
Back in November 2002, Hiroshi Kato, executive director of Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (LFNKR) was arrested and detained by Chinese police while he was in China delivering winter clothing, food and medical kits for North Korean refugees hiding in China. At that time, the North Korean regime offered a reward for Kato, dead or alive. They pledged to pay 350,000 RMB (about 49,000USD) for Kato … plus a Mercedes. A similar reward was announced when Takayuki Noguchi, an LFNKR director, was arrested in China while escorting two Japan-born North Korean refugees, trying to take them to Japan in 2003. He was held in a Chinese prison for 8 months.
The North Korean regime has consistently asserted that anyone caught helping a North Korean national as they risked their life escaping into China would be charged with subversion. Those North Koreans seeking to escape from their country are desperately seeking food or freedom from the horrific abuse of human rights. Since LFNKR’s founding in 1998, the organization has dedicated itself to the rescue of North Korean refugees. Such humanitarian activities are, regrettably, still considered “serious crimes” in North Korea and China.
In the meantime, we continue our earnest efforts to help any North Korean seeking to escape the regime, which is marked by terror and major human rights violations. LFNKR promises to continue our efforts to help North Korean refugees reach safe places so that they can start new, happier lives.
Currently, five North Koreans await our help. If you also would like to assist with our rescue operations, we invite you to donate toward the on-going rescue expenses.
For more information on how to make a donation, click here.