Tag Archives: Nanning
Fleeing North Korea Part 1
Fleeing North Korea: Southeast Asia
Part 1: The Rescue Mission Begins
By Takayuki Noguchi
(This is the first article in the series “Fleeing North Korea: Southeast Asia” by LFNKR’s Takayuki Noguchi)
On December 10, 2003, I was convicted by the Chinese authorities of traveling with North Korean defectors and sentenced to eight months in prison. The two defectors I was with were also detained and then forcibly repatriated to North Korea. I heard that one of them was tortured and died, and the other was sent to a prison camp for six months. After I was released, I decided to record as much as possible about what had happened. The result was “Fleeing North Korea” (Japanese; published 2010).
LFNKR Director Publishes Book in Japan
Success, Failure and Imprisonment
A young Japanese man begins a risky mission to help North Korean refugees escape across the China border into Vietnam.
Noguchi Takayuki, one of this organization’s directors, relates how he was jailed in China in 2003 for engaging in humanitarian work. His book, “Escaping with North Korean Defectors,” was released on April 10, 2010. Noguchi, a young volunteer with a Japanese NGO, was on a mission to guide North Korean defectors to freedom, but ended up jailed in China for 243 days.
China to Prosecute Noguchi
On the 118th day following his arrest, charges were filed against Takayuki Noguchi at the intermediate people’s court in Nanning, China on April 5.
Noguchi’s prosecution was confirmed by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Noguchi, a member of the NGO Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (LFNKR) is the first Japanese to be arrested and tried for attempting to rescue two Japan-born North Korean refugees hiding in China.