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Category: Human Rights

April 29, 2006

First N. Korean Gets U.S. Asylum, But What Does This Really Mean for NKHRA Compliance?

Updated 4/30; scroll down “We can and will do more to protect North Korean refugees. . . . We hope that very, very soon, we can welcome North Korean refugees here in the United States.” — Amb. Jay Lefkowitz, April 28, 2006 WASHINGTON, April 28 (Yonhap) — The Los Angeles Immigration Court has granted asylum to a North Korean defector after he awaited a decision in the U.S. for the past 20 months, his lawyer said Friday. The final ruling...
Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/U.S. & Korea
April 28, 2006

Can We Save This Man?

A 43-year-old political prisoner in North Korea is expected to be executed this weekend, and human rights groups in Seoul and around the world are trying to save the man’s life. In Seoul, 23 South Korean human rights groups yesterday submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission. They are seeking its assistance to stop the execution of Son Jeong-nam, who is being detained in Pyongyang by the North Korean State Security Department, said his younger brother, Jeong-hun, who...
Categories Abductions/Activism/Human Rights
April 28, 2006

Time Asia on the Underground Railroad

My biggest regret of my recent trip to Korea was that I wasn’t able to sit down and talk with the Rev. Tim Peters at length. Tim is one of the kindest, most selfless, most sincere people I’ve met in my life. He told me to watch for this piece in Time, which begins with this refugee woman’s description of the guard who killed her unborn baby: Hwang, Kim says, referred repeatedly to the baby as “the Chink,” because the...
Categories Activism/Asia/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees
April 28, 2006

NK Freedom Week 2006, Part II

The events have not yet concluded, and an all-night prayer vigil at the Chinese Embassy is underway. For various reasons, all of us missed the first half of the week. In my case, that was due to a family visit to South Korea (observations to follow later). Still, the events that are capable of being described at a forum like this one can be described now. Here is the week’s enduring image, one that creates a hopeful contrast to when...
Categories Activism/Human Rights/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 28, 2006

N. Korea Freedom Week Updates

First, please join us on the West side of the U.S. Capitol today, starting at 11:30. The rally will last well into the afternoon, with plenty of opportunities to frighten powerful and cynical people throughout the day. Some of us may even make a special appearance at the South Korean Embassy later this afternoon. At 6 PM, Suzanne Scholte of the North Korean Freedom Coalition will lead a rally at the Chinese Embassy that will become an all-night prayer vigil....
Categories Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/Resistance/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 21, 2006

Hu Jintao Visit: A Diplomatic Fiasco; Bush Raises Refugee Issue

The meeting, the first at the White House between the men since Mr. Hu became China’s top leader in 2002, was plagued by gaffes that upended months of painstaking diplomacy over protocol and staging. For millions of Americans, and for unknown numbers of Chinese able to penetrate the Great Firewall, the enduring image of Hu Jintao’s visit will not be the 21-gun salute he got, or the full state dinner he did not get, but the face of this Falun...
Categories China/Diplomacy/Human Rights/NK Economics/Refugees
April 19, 2006

Chosun Ilbo on NK Freedom Week

I’ve tried to do what I could to help with North Korean Freedom Week this year, so it’s encouraging to see the Korean press covering it. Any excuse to remind readers to join us next week will suffice. In fairness, however, I’m not sure that the Washington Post actually reported that Bush will raise the issue of North Korean refugees with Hu Jintao, as the Chosun Ilbo claims. Obviously, I hope that turn out to be the case.
Categories Activism/Human Rights
April 19, 2006

‘No Evidence’ Backs FLG Sujiatan Accusations

When shocking reports first emerged that China was mass-harvesting the organs of thousands Falun Gong members, the U.S. government called on China to allow international inspection of the facility in question. China wisely decided to do just that — though not quite immediately — and embassy staffers who visited the location have found the evidence for the reports lacking. Officers and staff from our embassy in Beijing and consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site mentioned...
Categories China/Human Rights
April 13, 2006

Links of Interest

* The United States wants South Korea to join it in imposing sanctions against North Korean shipping. South Korea will not agree, though the move would be almost exclusively symbolic. * LiNK will hold a fund-raising happy hour at the K Street Lounge, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, DC, on April 20th at 6 p.m. Join us as LiNK DC hosts the K Street Lounge Happy Hour! With free first drinks, we promise a great time networking with like professionals...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WTF?
April 11, 2006

Plenty of Room on the Stage

Oranckay has finally done it. In the span of a day, he’s joined the bulk of the IKK into a single, in-bred borg. Today, he goes to The Marmot’s Hole to defend his latest post, which links OFK posts by myself and Andy Jackson, who now co-blogs at the Hole. Someone ought to wake Dr. Hwang from his alcoholic fog to tell him a greater crime has finally been committed against nature. I make no argument with much of what...
Categories Activism/Human Rights
April 9, 2006

Links of Note

Thanks for the readers who forwarded: The Hines Ward story made the Washington Post. It doesn’t add too much new information, but I do like to see the issue get covered here. Transparency is a mixed blessing for China on the Sujiatun story: It appears the claims by Falun Gong have been at least substantially exaggerated. Initial investigations by researchers for a US congressional committee have identified the site at Sujiatun as a hospital, where it is suspected organ harvesting...
Categories Censorship/China/Human Rights/Korean Society/Media Criticism/WTF?
April 6, 2006

Links of Interest

The Flying Yangban has lots of good stuff up today. If you’re in or near Seoul and aren’t working with LiNK yet, they’re holding another meeting Saturday afternoon. Andy also links to an analysis from the International Crisis Group, giving the encouraging conclusion that the U.S. will never allow anything made in Kaesong to be included in a free-trade agreement. He also informs us of the latest machinations in South Korean politics. Yet more calls for America to disengage from...
Categories Abductions/Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Blogs & Blogging/Geopolitics/Human Rights/Islam/Korean Politics/NK Economics/North Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 5, 2006

Who Is Ma Young-Ae, and What Does She Know?

[Updated 6 Apr 06; scroll down] Via The Flying Yangban, it looks like the U.S. may be on the verge of accepting its first North Korean refugee. Like the Yangban, I’m happy about it. Unlike the Yangban, I don’t see this as necessarily precedent-setting for the broader issue of accepting refugees fleeing persecution in North Korea. Reason: this refugee is also fleeing persecution in South Korea. No, that wasn’t a typo: Ma came to South Korea in 2000. In April...
Categories Abductions/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Censorship/Counterfeiting/Defectors/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Law/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 3, 2006

Lefkowitz Denounces Kaesong Slave Labor; U.S. Continues to Squeeze NK’s Finances

It’s like they’re reading this blog . . . or perhaps great minds just think alike. You may recall that recently, I blogged about a media visit to the Kaesong Industrial Park. Piecing together several excellent reports allowed one to gather: (1) the extraordinary degree of control over the North Korean workers; (2) the extraordinary degree of supervision of the South Korean visitors; (3) the fact that the North Korean workers actually receive just $8 a month, not the widely-reported...
Categories "United" Nations/Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/NK Economics/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD