Category Archives: China
They Won’t Reap What They Sow
Hopeless Crops
One of LFNKR’s local staff members in China took this picture across the border on June 1, 2010. It shows people planting rice seedlings in Namiyan, North Hamgyong, North Korea. Their clothing indicates that they are not farmers but soldiers and urban women who have been assigned to the rice planting job.
NK Woman with Moxa Marks
Thyroid Illness Common in NK Woman’s Village
One day recently, a 30-year-old woman from North Hamgyong, North Korea unexpectedly appeared at one of LFNKR’s shelters in China requesting medical assistance. She was suffering from hyperthyroidism, with swollen throat, and in her home city had received a Chinese remedy for her illness. That medicine, however, had worsened her symptoms.
University in US Recognizes LFNKR Director Noguchi
University Website Mentions Noguchi’s New Book
Arkansas State University posted an article, Thursday June 3rd, on its school news website, Inside ASU, describing the new book written by alumnus Takayuki Noguchi. The book, entitled Escaping with North Korean Defectors, relates his experiences in China as he helped North Korean refugees escape to freedom.
US State Dept. Honors LFNKR’s Kato
Exec. Director Kato Recognized
In recognition for years of effort on behalf of North Korean refugees hiding in China, the US State Department, on 26 April 2010, presented a special certificate to LFNKR Executive Director Kato Hiroshi in a ceremony at the US embassy in Tokyo.
LFNKR Director Publishes Book in Japan
Success, Failure and Imprisonment
A young Japanese man begins a risky mission to help North Korean refugees escape across the China border into Vietnam.
Noguchi Takayuki, one of this organization’s directors, relates how he was jailed in China in 2003 for engaging in humanitarian work. His book, “Escaping with North Korean Defectors,” was released on April 10, 2010. Noguchi, a young volunteer with a Japanese NGO, was on a mission to guide North Korean defectors to freedom, but ended up jailed in China for 243 days.
Former Foster Child Weds – LFNKR Invited
Mr. Kato and Ms. Watanabe stand in as parents for the bride and groom, both of whom are former North Korean refugees.
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It has been ten years since LFNKR (Life Funds for North Korean Refugees) staff members working in China found 10 North Korean orphans who had fled to China to escape the starvation. These first children were the stimulus that prompted LFNKR to begin an education sponsorship program that would enable us to protect them and provide them with an education.
US NGO Report – ‘Lives for Sale’
Personal Accounts of NK Women Fleeing to China
An American NGO, The US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), at the end of April this year, released a 64-page document titled “Lives for Sale.” The report includes 53 summarized personal accounts, along with the history and context of such human trafficking of North Korean women in China. Most of the women fall into the hands of brokers, who sell them to Chinese farmers or to China’s sex trade.
Prosecute Kim Jong-il through ICC for Crimes Against Humanity
According to recent media reports, Kim Jong-il, now suffering health difficulties, has selected his third son, Kim Jong-un, to succeed him. The North Korean regime is reportedly accelerating plans to become an important military power by 2012. This may explain why the regime has conducted repeated missile launches and nuclear tests in defiance of UN resolutions on sanctions, despite escalating tensions in the world community.