Tag Archives: NGO
Family of Jailed Humanitarian Worker Struggling
Kim Bong Soon’s Letter
Hello, I am Kim Bong Soon, the wife of Choi Yong-hun.
My husband was arrested by the Chinese police in January 2003 for helping North Korean refugees and was sent to prison for 5 years. Today, he remains confined in the Weifang Prison, Shandong Province, China after serving 46 months of a 60-month sentence. He suffers from worsening chronic diabetes, hypertension, and asthma because of the poor living conditions in the prison.
Summer Clothes Are Survival Gear
The Right Clothes Make a Person Invisible
For North Korean refugees hiding in China, the wrong clothes can mean arrest, repatriation and hard prison time. That is why their aim is to blend in, look like the Chinese locals, and escape notice. When warmer weather comes, if they are seen still wearing winter clothing, the Chinese police notice it immediately. Being noticed by the police automatically means arrest for them, followed quickly by forcible return to North Korea where harsh punishment awaits them.
Interview with NK Border Shelter Staff Members
Human Trafficking and Starvation
Recently an LFNKR staff member visited some of the shelters in China being run clandestinely by this NGO. The following interview with a few local staffers working at one of the shelters brings us information about the recent food situation in North Korea and the victims of human trafficking.
In the interview, “LFNKR” indicates one of our people dispatched from Japan who interviewed “Local staffers,” who are the people actually caring for North Korean refugees and orphans living in our shelters in China.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry Betraying its Citizens?
Ignored Requests to Attend the Nanning Incident Trial
On June 28, 2004, the second (sentencing) phase of Takayuki Noguchi’s trial was convened at the Intermediate People’s Court in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Noguchi, a member of the Japanese NGO Life Funds For North Korean Refugees, was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan (260,000 Japanese yen; US $2,778) under Articles 321 and 61 of the Chinese Domestic Criminal Code, which deals with illegally transporting people with the intent of crossing the Chinese border, and attempting to assist in an illegal border crossing.