10th October, 2013
The North Korea Freedom Coalition has launched a petition calling upon China’s President Xi Jinping to end his country’s policy of forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees.
The petition, which will be delivered to Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, on Human Rights Day (10th December), asks the President to "consider the desperate plight of refugees fleeing into China from North Korea to escape starvation, oppression, religious persecution, and arbitrary detention".
"We ask that you honor your international treaty commitments by providing them access to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, so that they will not be subjected to forced repatriation to North Korea where they are considered to have committed a crime for the simple act of leaving the country," it says. "They face certain torture, certain imprisonment, and in some cases execution for fleeing their homeland."
The organisation has also released a video on YouTube in which North Koreans talk about their escape through China after most of their family members had died of starvation. They have also released an updated version of "The List", a document first published in 2002 which provides details of North Korean refugees and humanitarian workers who have been seized by Chinese authorities.
In a news release made available to the ASSIST News Service, the group says, “Rather than abide by its international treaty obligations, China continues to forcefully repatriate North Korean refugees back to North Korea where they face certain torture, certain imprisonment and even execution. This policy has contributed to an environment of violent activity in China with North Korean agents assassinating humanitarian workers helping refugees and with the majority of North Korean female refugees being subjected to human trafficking.
“The NKFC has long argued that ending this repatriation policy would have a very positive benefit for China, because it would send a strong signal to the Kim Jong-un regime of their need to open to the very reforms China wishes to see. Furthermore, North Korean refugees are unlike any refugee population in the world because they have the ability to be immediately resettled in South Korea, as they have automatic citizenship under Articles 2 and 3 of the Republic of Korea’s Constitution. In fact, already over 27,500 North Korean refugees have been safely resettled in South Korea and over twenty other nations.
“The NKFC is simply calling upon Xi Jinping to honor its treaty commitments by working with the UNHCR and the international community to resolve this issue and end needless suffering.”
NKFC Chairman, Suzanne Scholte, told the ASSIST News Service, “We know the people of China want to see this cruel repatriation policy end. They do not support the Kim Jong-un regime and know the future is with South Korea. We so hope that the Xi Jinping will reverse this illegal, inhumane, and brutal policy that has led to human misery and suffering.”
“This whole issue should be especially important to Christians,” Dr Scholte explained, “because most of the people being murdered or jailed for helping North Koreans in China — whether they are South Koreans, Americans, Chinese or Japanese — are motivated by their Christian beliefs.”
– DAVID ADAMS (with DAN WOODING, of ASSIST News Service)
