For your reference, the letter below was sent to NGOs, Olympic
Committees heads, UNHCR Officers, journalists and WTO Headquarters.
We recently reported to you that the Japanese
NGO members arrested in Shanghai in August for attempting to help
North Korean refugees were released after only 3 weeks.
The following humanitarian aid workers, who
were arrested by the Chinese authorities under the same law (Article
318 of the Chinese criminal code), are still being detained in
China, some of them for over a year. We must again urge China
to behave as a law-governed nation.
Please copy the letter below (clip between the dashed
lines) and send it to the Chinese Minister of Justice:
Following the sample letter below, I have also
included for your reference a copy of the petition letter sent
by the wife of one of the detainees to the Minister of Justice
in China.
-------------------BEGIN CLIP HERE----------------------
Ministry of Justice of People's Republic of China
Mr. Buzhang Fusen Zhang, Minister of Justice
Your Excellency,
I have learned that the seven humanitarian aid
workers listed below were arrested for helping North Korean refugees
in China, and are still being detained. Last month, China released
the Japanese NGO members who were arrested under the same law
(Article 318 of the Chinese criminal code), after holding them
for 3 weeks. Please show the international society that the Ministry
of Justice in China respects the fundamentals for a law-governed
state by applying the same rules; please release the humanitarians
and the journalist still being detained.
1. Rev. Choi Bong-il (Seized in Yenji, China
on April 12, 2002)
2. Kim Hee-tae (seized in Changchun on Aug. 31,
2002)
The following five were seized on Jan. 18, 2003
in Yantai, and were sentenced on May 22, 2003
3. Choi Yong-hun (S. Korean; 5 years and 30,000RMB
fine)
4. Seok Jae-hyun (S. Korean journalist; 2 years
and 5,000RMB)
5. Park Yong-chol (NK national; 2 years and 5,000RMB)
6. Park Yong-ho (Korean Chinese; 3 years and
10,000RMB)
7. Kim Song-man (Korean Chinese; 1 year and 1,000RMB)
Sincerely yours,
(Your name)
Send to: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn
---------------------END OF CLIP
HERE-------------------
For your reference, we are including below the
letter sent to the Minister of Justice by the wife of Mr. Choi
Yong-hun.
---------
September 15, 2003
Ministry of Justice of People's Republic of China
Mr. Buzhang Fusen Zhang, Minister of Justice
Your Excellency,
I am Kim Bong-sun, the wife of Choi Yong-hun
who was arrested by the Chinese authorities on January 18 in Yantai,
China for helping North Korean refugees.
On April 22, the first trial was held at the
Shandong Yantai Development Division intermediate court, from
which a verdict was handed down on May 22. My husband was sentenced
under Article 318 of the Chinese criminal code to 5 years in prison
and fined 30,000 yuan. This is too severe for our family. We have
two daughters, one in elementary school, the other in junior high
school. Without their father, it will be extremely difficult to
continue their education and to make a living.
My husband originally worked in the construction
machinery business in China, and has frequently traveled between
China and South Korea since 1998. In the course of his work, he
learned of the hardships experienced by North Korean refugees
hiding in China. Their lives are miserable beyond imagining, and
he could not turn a blind eye to them. That is how my husband
began helping them. The North Korean refugees come to China because
they cannot survive in their homeland, but what waits them in
China are human trafficking, labor exploitation without wages,
and bitterly cold weather.
My husband also found that the North Korean
refugees daily face the fear of being repatriated to their homeland,
where they face concentration camps or even execution. This made
him decide to help despairing North Korean refugees to survive
even though he knew that doing so would put him at great risk.
However, my husband's ability to rescue them was far less than
what was needed. So when he learned that some South Korean people
were planning to help the refugees out of China, my husband volunteered
to join them. The North Korean refugees arrested in Yantai included
families with small children. This pained my husband's heart the
most, being also a father of two.
Why should my husband be arrested for trying
to help those people in agony? Why should he receive such severe
punishment; a 5-year prison sentence? Why should he have to suffer
mentally and physically, shut up in Prison No. 2 in Yantai City
where he cannot even communicate because of language differences?
It has now been 8 months.
Why is he not allowed even a single visit from
his family? And why do my two daughters and I have to endure such
great pain? How can I possibly explain to our daughters why the
punishment was so great, simply because my husband chose to help
people asking for assistance, instead of ignoring them.
My husband has chronic illnesses and has been
taking medications for asthma, diabetes and hypertension. Now
he is reportedly in extremely bad condition, having been provided
with none of the prescription drugs he needs.
After the verdict was handed down on May 22,
an appeal was filed, hoping that a fair trial would be possible
at a second (final) trial. We were bitterly disappointed, however,
when his lawyer said that the second trial is very likely to end
with written verdicts being handed to the defendants. This has
deprived us of virtually our last hope.
So far, we have heard no specific date for the
second trial, and we cannot hand my daughter's letters to her
father since we are not allowed to visit him.
On April 22 when the first trial took place,
I caught a glimpse of my husband at the court. His body was swollen,
and his complexion was sickly. He was shivering from the cold.
This sight broke my heart.
On May 22 when the verdict was rendered, my
husband appeared in court looking so weak his body seemed to have
shrunk by half. I could not hold back my tears when I saw him
desperately trying to brace up his own sagging body.
Please immediately grant the release of my husband,
so that we can regain our life together.
Mr. Yamada (the representative of a Japanese
NGO) who attempted to help North Korean refugees to defect to
South Korea by taking them into a Japanese facility in Shanghai
on August 7 (4:00PM), 2003 was arrested by the Chinese authorities.
I learned that Mr. Yamada was released after only three weeks,
on August 28, and he returned to Japan.
I understand that Mr. Yamada was charged under
Article 318 of the Chinese criminal code, the same law that was
applied to my husband. Please explain why my sick husband is still
being detained, suffering severe punishment without even the chance
of a visit by his family who wishes to hand him necessary medications?
He has been detained for 8 months now.
It is utterly basic for a law-governed state
to apply established laws to everyone equally. If a state fails
to observe this basic precept, then the state is not qualified
as a law-governed nation.
China signed the UN Convention on the Status
of Refugees protocol in 1967 and 1982. The formal report submitted
by the Chinese government to the United Nations clearly stated
that the international agreement on human rights issue does not
conflict with Chinese domestic laws. China agreed that it is obliged
to fulfill the duty defined by the agreement. China also specifically
stated that if any domestic laws should conflict with the international
agreement, then priority is to be given to the international agreement.
The fairness and dignity of the Chinese administration
of justice must be protected.
Also, I sincerely hope that people will again
come to admire your country as one that respects human rights
and as being one well qualified to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
For this important reason, I strongly urge you
to decide in favor of releasing my husband according to the standards
of international law. I am desperately eager to see the happy
faces of our two daughters being reunited with their father.
Sincerely yours,
Kim Bong-sun, wife of Choi Yong-hun
cc: President Hu Jintao
