June 11, 2001

Please briefly introduce yourself.

I am a lawyer and former Mayor of Seoul, now serving as the Secretary-general of the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees, an affiliate of the Christian Council of Korea. I was a human rights advocate during the period of authoritarian rule, at which time I handled several serious torture cases. Once as a judge early in my career I disregarded pressure from the authoritarian government and refused to keep the current President and then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung into custody.

How did you become involved with NK refugees?

In November 1998, I organized a symposium on the legal status of North Korean escapees as an executive committee member of the group “Lawyers for the Constitution.” In March of 1999, I attended a prayer meeting for the Korean people in Washington, DC, where a Christian volunteer who was helping North Korean escapees in Northeast China, bordering with North Korea, shared his experience of the hardship faced by these people. The participants concluded that we had to establish a movement to petition the UN and that the Christian Council of Korea would be the most appropriate organization to head that movement. On March 31, 1999, the Christian Council of Korea established the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees, which proceeded to collect signatures for a petition to the UN asking to grant refugee status to North Koreans. I accepted the position of Secretary-general of CNKR, not only because I am a human rights advocate, but also because of my experience as a North Korean child who was brought to the South shortly before the Korean War broke out by my parents because of the inhumanity of the North Korean regime.

At first, the goal of 10 million signatures seemed unrealistic, but thanks to the help of our volunteers we eventually collected a total of 11,800,495 signatures and submitted the petition to the UN in New York on May 16, 2001. During that trip I met several American Congressmen and high-ranking government officials who have a deep interest in the fate of North Koreans.

Please describe the abuses happening to NK refugees.

North Korean escapees, mostly in Northern China, do not have the right to live. They are beaten, extorted, raped, forced to work without wages, not paid if promised to, and the list goes on. Chinese gangsters are quick to take advantage of the fact that North Korean refugees are illegal aliens and use the fear of being caught to force them into prostitution and unpaid or low-paid labor. If the refugees are caught by the authorities, they will be repatriated to North Korea where most will be sent to political prison camps or, if they have met South Koreans or missionaries, will be executed.

There are also North Korean agents sent to China to bring back or simply eliminate North Koreans who have escaped. Life for the refugees is therefore very dangerous, and they live in constant fear of being caught. For this reason they cannot get real jobs, and are not protected from abuse, which often comes from the authorities themselves. It is not infrequent for a Chinese policeman to demand sexual favors from a North Korean woman he has just caught in exchange for freedom, and then repatriate the woman nonetheless.

What are the NK refugees’ greatest needs these days and how is your group helping?

They need refugee status. Without that they are illegal and risk being sent to their country where they will be persecuted. If they receive refugee status that will not only prevent repatriations but open the doors for international aid to bring in food, medicine, clothing and shelter. A lot of refugees now must live in the mountains and subsist by scavenging for food. They do not have the right to live. Getting refugee status would give them that right.

To this end we have launched several campaigns, one of which is the signature collection campaign mentioned above and another one is a campaign against Beijing’s bid for the 2008 Olympic Games unless they grant refugee status to North Koreans who qualify under the 1951 Convention. Our main goal is to raise international awareness regarding this problem in the hope that the international community will act on this serious problem.

We are also active in China helping the refugees, especially through a volunteer group of former North Korean refugees.

What are some of the biggest hindrances to your work?

By far the biggest hindrance is the Chinese government, who refuses to recognize North Koreans who flee repression as refugees, despite the fact that they meet the criteria for refugee status as outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, which China signed. The UNHCR cannot grant the North Koreans refugee status because to do so they need to write down their name and address. That would give the Chinese authorities the whereabouts of the refugees and make it easier to find and repatriate them. Moreover, it would allow the North Korean government to find any family members and persecute them.

Also, the international community is surprisingly silent about this issue. We rarely hear of NGOs or governments publicly supporting North Korean refugees, even though there might be up to 100,000 of them.

South Korean embassies also are not very helpful, closing their door to North Korean refugees despite the fact that the South Korean constitution clearly states that all North Koreans are South Korean citizens by law.

Please share some of your memorable experiences during your work with NK refugees.

I have heard that North Korean escapees in China are very encouraged that our petition numbered several million signatures. I have also received several letters to this effect. The concern of over 11 million people will stimulate North Korean escapees to keep on living in spite of the miserable conditions they encounter.

There are nearly a dozen women aged over 70 years old that have collected more than 30,000 signatures. In particular, two of them collected over 100,000 signatures. For a period stretching more than a year, they volunteered to collect signatures in the streets or in the subway, whether it was sunny or raining. Their sacrifice has touched many other people and convinced them to come to the help of North Korean escapees in whichever way they could.

Why should the international community be involved with NK refugee issues?

There are over 100,000 refugees now hiding in Northern China, living in some of the worst conditions on earth. How can we ignore that? It is a great violation of human rights and a crime against humanity. As human beings, it is our duty to come to the help of these people.

What is your advice for anyone interested in helping?

There are many things that can be done. First, people can become involved with groups such as ours. Second, they can pressure their political leaders to address the issue seriously and condemn China and North Korea. Third, donations to groups who support North Koreans would be greatly appreciated. Anyone interested in helping can contact our office in Seoul.

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