Category Archives: China
Sample Letter of Protest
To the President of China
Dear President Hu Jintao,
The international community continues to watch in horror as the Chinese government tracks down and deports North Korean refugees in advance of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. This practice is a stain on the face of China. We urge you to immediately cease arresting and repatriating North Korean refugees.
Demonstrations Planned to Save North Korean Refugees
Protests Planned Worldwide
Suzanne Scholte of the North Korea Freedom Coalition writes:
Please remember the International Protest Against China’s Violent Treatment of North Korean Refugees will be occurring around the world at noon on November 30 and December 1 at Chinese consulates and embassies. We need everyone to join and support these events as the situation in China is worse than ever for North Korean refugees.
Human Trafficking Victim – Choi Chong-mi
Name: Choi Chong-mi
(Female, Name changed for safety)
Birth date: 1969
Hometown: Hamgyong Bukto
It is an unending nightmare. I don’t know how to begin telling everything that has happened to me. It will probably sound like fiction to you. When I was two years old, following the death of my father, I was taken in by four aunts and an uncle. My cousins were like my parents, sisters and brother.
Human Trafficking Victim – Lee Sun Ja
Name: Lee Sun Ja
(Female, Name changed for safety)
Date of Birth: 1981
Hometown: Hamgyong Bukto, North Korea
When I was three years old, my parents suddenly disappeared. Nobody knows if they died or if they were sent into a concentration camp for political prisoners. My step-parents treated me worse than a beast. I was hardly fed daily, so I grew up as a beggar. Since I remained a Kot-jebi (street child) until I escaped into China, I never had a chance to go to a school. In North Korea, while I was living the Kot-jebi life, I begged but I also broke into houses to steal from time to time.
Proposed Action Plan for 2007-2008
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, NGO
Strained Relations
The crackdown on North Korean refugees by both the Chinese and North Korean governments has drastically cut the flow of North Koreans into China, reducing it to levels below those of the past decade. China’s official position is that North Korean refugees do not exist, a stance that blatantly ignores international law, including the Convention on the Status of Refugees, to which it is a signatory nation.
Escapee from North Korea Sold as Slave to a Sex Chat Site
First, Banished to the Middle of Nowhere for Watching a South Korean Movie
Hwang Miryon, 19
Former Chongjin University student
(Name changed to protect her safety)
My family was relatively well-off even in Chongjin, but in August 2005 we were suddenly struck by misfortune, something we could never have imagined. It all started when a family with whom we were friends was arrested on charges of watching a foreign film. An acquaintance of the wife was arrested by the “109 Brigade” and before we knew it they had come for us as well.
Human Rights Activist Kim Sang Hun
Mr. Kim’s Speech:
Chairperson, Distinguished Members of the International Community of Human Rights NGOs and Activists, Respected Members of News Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to thank you for your interest in the human rights disaster that North Korea has created, and for the innocent victims it has created.