Shenyang Six Update
LiNK sends:
Hello Friends,….
It feels strange to be back here in Washington at LiNK headquarters, typing away at a computer. For those of you who have been following the news, the past few weeks have not been calm and restful- they have been rather dramatic and urgent.
On December 21, 2006, myself, two LiNK field workers and 6 North Korean refugees were caught and imprisoned by Chinese authorities. I was taken into custody in Beijing, and the others en route to Beijing from Shenyang.
We were placed in prison outside of Shenyang after interrogation. The three LiNK workers were released after 10 days. Our 6 North Korean friends remain in Chinese custody.
However, we remain hopeful. The fact that the Chinese have not yet repatriated the North Koreans (they had said they would send them back immediately following our capture) is a very positive sign. We are currently engaged in discussions with the Chinese government regarding their release, and we are hopeful of a positive resolution to the event.
There is of course much more to the story and what transpired, and we will be sharing more with you all as time goes. We know how agonizing it is to think of the possible fate of the Shenyang Six if things do not go well in negotiations with the People’s Republic of China. Please rest assured that we are doing all that we can. The instant there is a role for us all in the grassroots to play, you will hear about it, and we will mobilize internationally for the six. At the moment, we are waiting on high-level discussions and working quietly to secure their release.
Final thoughts: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Accepting Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1964Stay tuned for updates, and thank you for your consistent support and conviction for this cause. Thank you!
Adrian Hong
Executive Director
I thought they were sent back – the crappy ROK consulate staff put them in a hotel, only to have the hotel inform call the cops, who re-captured the six and sent them back to North Korea:
2007/01/29 14:52 KST
Opposition seeking parliamentary probe on China’s deportation of N.K. defectors
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) said Monday it will seek a parliamentary investigation on the recent repatriation of a group of North Korean defectors in China.
The GNP said it will also ask Beijing to apologize for the deportation of nine North Korean asylum-seekers in northeast China in October and call on Seoul to devise measures to prevent the occurrence of any similar incidents.
“We will take due actions to handle this matter,” said Kang Jae-sup, chairman of the GNP, in a party meeting.
The GNP’s hard-line stance came days after its fact-finding mission to China’s northeastern city of Shenyang, where the defectors were caught by the Chinese authorities, returned home.
The investigative team said the South Korean consulate in Shenyang refused to disclose some key documents related to the case, citing diplomatic protocol. Team members also claimed South Korea’s Foreign Minister Song Min-soon repeatedly refused to talk to them on the phone.
Earlier, the foreign minister issued a public apology for failing to protect the North Koreans, all of them wives or other family members of three South Korean prisoners of war from the 1950-53 Korean War.
One of the nine North Koreans later froze to death while she was being questioned by North Korean security authorities after being deported to the reclusive country, according to a South Korean source familiar with North Korean affairs.
It is still unclear whether her death was caused by torture during the questioning or by a chronic disease she had already been suffering from, the source said.
The GNP’s fact-finding mission visited a lodging facility in Shenyang, where the defectors were arrested by Chinese security police, party officials said. The lodging was provided by the South Korean consulate.
“What we heard from lodging staff there was different from what the government announced. So we want to shed light on the incident by a parliamentary probe,” said Jeon Jae-hee, the party’s chief policymaker who headed the mission.
The GNP will push for a parliamentary investigation during the National Assembly’s special session next month.
China is bound by a treaty with North Korea to repatriate any North Koreans who sneak across the border, but it has often allowed many such escapees to go to South Korea or other countries for resettlement out of concerns over international condemnation. Repatriated asylum-seekers often face torture, imprisonment and sometimes executions.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
Sorry to say, I believe we’re speaking of two different groups here. Total of 15 sent back.