Category Archives: China
Panicked Chinese Students Evacuated
Yanji, China
North Korea’s second nuclear test on May 25 shocked the world and caused the strongest tremor ever to hit the border area between China and North Korea. People in the region feared that it was another huge earthquake like the recent one in Sichuan. Fortunately, I had lived in Japan long enough to be familiar with earthquakes, so I did not panic. However, most people living in the border area were clearly terrified.
NK Foster Kids Write “Report Cards”
Foster Kids Send Their “Report Cards”
Recently at the LFNKR office we received a packet of letters from our North Korean foster children in China, telling us about their school achievements. Clearly some of these children are gifted students, and it would be a tragic waste if they were denied an education. We are delighted that they are doing well and learning very rapidly. It is my hope that the happiness in their lives can continue.
China Denies National ID for Shadow Children
‘Shadow Chidren’ Have No Nationality, Legal Status
In China, the number of children having no national identity papers continues to rise, particularly in the provinces of Jilin, Heilongjang, and Liaoning where the trend is strongest. These so-called “shadow children,” born to female North Korean defectors and Korean-Chinese or Han-Chinese men, are denied the right to register as real Chinese, which means they have neither identification nor official standing.
Special US Report on NK Refugees
Interviews with North Koreans in China
In June 2004, Joel R. Charny of Refugees International spent one week in Jilin province in China interviewing 38 North Korean refugees. They live, Charney found, a precarious and clandestine existence as illegal migrants. Download Charny’s 7-page report in PDF format.
What Repatriated NK Refugees Must Endure
Below is our interview with a North Korean defector.
“I escaped into China on November 27, 2008. This is my fifth escape. I have no place to go. Let me die here or please help me.”
The temperature outside is already down to -10°C and it will continue to fall. Hong Song-man, 65 years old, begged the interviewer (an LFNKR local staff member) for help, pleading with tears in his eyes. He said he had previously stayed in a village in Helong, Yanbian Korean-Chinese autonomous state of Jilin Province, where villagers helped him.
SK President’s Policies Ignore Refugees
Nothing New from Lee Myung-bak
South Korea’s pro-North stance, including its Sunshine Policy and its Engagement Policy implemented by the regimes of Kim Dae-jung and Roh-Moo-hyun, has caused untold suffering for the North Korean people and North Korean defectors due to rampant human rights violations.
Japanese Wives Victimized By Brokers
Brokers ‘help’ through threats, intimidation
Ms. Hiroko Saito, the Japan-born wife of a North Korean, was arrested in Japan on March 8 this year by Osaka Prefectural police. The woman, who had earlier escaped from North Korea and made her way to Japan, was arrested together with a Chinese couple on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control Act. She is suspected of falsely stating that the Chinese couple are relatives so that they could enter Japan illegally.