N. Korea Protests Bombard Chinese Embassies
WASHINGTON – Human rights activists and concerned citizens around the world inundated Chinese embassies in 11 countries this past weekend with protests against China's violent repatriation of North Korean refugees.
For two days, Americans in six U.S. cities marched in front of embassies and consulate offices of the People's Republic of China to demonstrate against the country's ongoing hunts for, arrests of, and repatriation of North Korean refugees, who face torture, imprisonment, and sometimes execution for the "crime" of fleeing their country.
"This is the most avoidable human rights tragedy occurring in the world today," says Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC), "because, unlike most refugee crises, the North Koreans have a place to be resettled."
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"They are citizens of South Korea under the Republic of Korea's constitution and the United States has repeatedly stated its willingness to allow the refugees to apply for resettlement in the U.S," Scholte points out. "Yet, China continues to force them back to North Korea."
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) considers the North Koreans who cross the border as refugees, but China has blocked the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations from assisting and interviewing them.
At least 500,000 North Koreans have crossed the border over to China in the past 10 years to escape starvation and the repressive communist regime.
As a result, more than 80 percent of North Korean females are subjected to sexual trafficking while men become slave laborers and children are abandoned, according to NKFC.
"Our aim is to demand that China stop this heinous crime and work with the international community to resolve it peacefully and orderly," says Pastor Heemoon Lee of the Korean American Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom, which is part of the effort.
Humanitarian activists that have helped North Korean refugees in China have been imprisoned by Beijing including two American citizens – the Rev. Phillip Buck and Steve Kim. Both were providing food and shelter to North Korean refugees and guiding them to freedom in South Korea before they were caught by Chinese authorities.
Kim was released in September after four years in a Chinese prison for the "crime" of helping starving North Korean refugees.
Buck, who was born in North Korea, was released in August 2006 after being jailed for 15 months in China.
Buck has helped over 1,000 North Korean refugees hiding in China and over 100 of them escape to South Korea over a period of 10 years. He was awarded the Civil Courage Prize in October by The Train Foundation for his "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk."
"I did not see what I was doing as something wrong," Buck said during his award speech. "God has instructed us to help those who are in need, and I take that instruction very seriously."
Yet since Buck left China, the 2008 Olympic host has reportedly stepped up its repatriation of North Korean refugees out of fear that its brutal treatment of North Korean refugees will be exposed to the world. Beijing plans to force over 100,000 refugees back to North Korea before the end of the year and before the Olympic Games next year, according to NKFC.
This year's international protest against China's treatment of North Korean refugees marked the first time demonstrations took place at every Chinese consulate in the Untied States since the first international protest in 2004.
Protests in the United States occurred in: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington. The ten other nations that participated in the global effort were: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Nepal, Netherlands, and United Kingdom.
"The Chinese government needs to know that Christians around the world are aware and care about the government's flagrant human rights violations and that we are committed to praying and assisting these refugees," says Lindsay Vessey, Open Doors USA advocacy coordinator.
On the Web: Fax Campaign for North Korean Refugees
