Category Archives: Defectors
Protests Held at Chinese Embassy & Consulate in Japan
Journalists Swell the Crowd in Tokyo Demonstration
Actual participants numbered perhaps 30 or so, but with the journalists buzzing around our group, the crowd probably looked larger to the double-handful of guards blocking the gate to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. We were careful to maintain order and obey the laws, but it appeared the embassy staff didn’t want to take chances. The guards remained serious and watchful throughout the protest.
NK Refugee Park Yong-chol Repatriated
NK Defectors Still Being Denied Right to Live
We were shocked to learn a few months ago that Choi Yong (male), a Japan-born North Korean, was executed after being repatriated. He was one of the two Japan-born North Koreans whom Takayuki Noguchi (of our organization) tried to help escape from China in December last year.
LFNKR’s Activities — What We Accomplished in 2004
Current Situation of North Korean Refugees
Recently, the world has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of North Korean refugees who, rather than continuing to hide in China, are choosing to escape to other Asian countries. Escape destinations include Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
NGOs, Lawmakers Receive Update on LFNKR Activities
China Claims 62 NK Defectors Not Repatriated Yet
Beijing officials are denying media reports that they repatriated 62 North Korean defectors. South Korea’s Joong Ang Daily stated on Nov. 12 that China is denying earlier news reports of returning the 62 to North Korea. Authorities in Beijing are reportedly claiming that the defectors are still undergoing processing prior to repatriation at a detention center near the border with North Korea.
Choi Yong Hun Not Receiving His Mail in Prison
First Some Good News:
The South Korean aid worker, Kim Hee-tae, was found “not guilty” last month and released after being detained for nearly two years.
He was arrested while leading a group of North Korean defectors to Beijing to submit an official request for refugee status.
Int’l Conference on NK Refugees
The First International Planning Conference…
… for the Rescue of North Korean Refugees and Humanitarian Aid Workers hosted by the Japanese and Korean NGO Coalition was held in Tokyo on 18 and 19 July 2004. The two-day Conference, organized by three Japanese NGOs (The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea, RENK, and Life Funds for North Korean Refugees), attracted approximately 100 participants from 9 NGOs and 6 countries.
Boy Spends Life in Hiding, Finally Shot to Death
Chinese Guard Kills NK 17-Year-Old Refugee Right at Mongolian Border
Mid-March 2004 — In his last hiding place. Chol-hun had grown into a fine young man. Three weeks later he was dead.
On April 20 this year, LFNKR received reports that a 20-year-old man was fatally shot when Chinese border guards interrupted an escape attempt by 24 North Korean defectors as they were crossing the border into Mongolia from Manzhouli, China.
NK Refugee Killed by Chinese Border Guard
Chinese border guard on horseback fired on unarmed NK refugees
Reports have reached our organization that a 20-year-old North Korean defector was shot and killed on 2 April when a group of 24 defectors were stopped while attempting to cross the border from China into Mongolia.
Six members of the group, all men, succeeded in reaching Mongolia. The 17 defectors arrested include a 2-year-old child and a woman six months pregnant. The defectors have begun a hunger strike, insisting on relocation to a third country.