No Mercy, No Justice for NK Mothers and Children
Mother of 5-year-old Repatriated to North Korea
In February, 2006, the mother of 5-year-old Kim Yong-soon was arrested and repatriated to North Korea. Six years ago, the mother, a young North Korean woman who had fled the country of her birth, was sold into a forced marriage to a Chinese man. She quickly became pregnant and gave birth to daughter Kim Yong-soon. This daughter, Yong-soon is being supported under LFNKR’s foster parent program.
The mother was arrested by a Chinese police raid squad at 11:30 pm on Feb. 25 and handed over to the North Korean security police 3 days later. She had already been repatriated twice before but had managed to escape and return to her family in China.
The LFNKR local staff in China reported to us that it will be impossible for her to return again, since this is her third repatriation.
LFNKR questions why Chinese government policies show no mercy, callously tearing apart families, separating mothers and children with no regard to human feeling.
In cities near the border, including Yanji and Longjin, under the joint intensified crackdown, North Korean authorities provide Chinese security police with information on North Korean defectors. Chinese police are motivated by the high bounties being paid by the government. For each arrest, they are paid 2,000 RMB, a sum that equals the monthly salary of most university graduates in China.
Read additional background on conditions along the China-North Korea border. For more about 5-year-old Kim Yong-soon and her situation read this interview with local staff members.
In another development, Grace Yoon recently sent us an update on her 68-year-old father, Rev. Phillip J. Buck, who is being held in a Chinese jail.
On December 31, 2005 he was tried for helping North Korean refugees, and is now awaiting sentencing. We urge everyone to please pray for his immediate and safe release.
Read more information about Rev. Buck.