Tag Archives: South Korean government
South Korean Government invalidates aid worker’s passport
South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, has a reputation as a human rights lawyer. He seems, however, to be allowing repatriation of North Korean defectors fleeing from serious human rights violations in North Korea without giving them any protection or adequate consideration.
NGO activists and Christian missionaries who work to protect North Korean defectors who have fled to China are working in China without fear of being monitored, arrested, detained, and deported from China. However, the South Korean government has taken measures to revoke or to refuse renewal of the activists’ passports, claiming that they are undermining national credibility. As a result, the South Korean government is putting pressure on human rights activists, and is selling out to the Chinese government. We at LFNKR dare not fail to point out the non-humanitarian, inhumane acts of the South Korean government.
The following is our summary of an article in Chosun Ilbo on Feb. 1, 2022.
South Korean Government invalidates passport of businessman imprisoned in China for helping North Korean defectors, claiming “damage of national prestige.”
On Feb. 1, it was confirmed that the South Korean government invalidated the passport of a South Korean businessman, “Mr. A,” and restricted its re-issuance, saying that he “damaged national prestige and committed illegal smuggling acts.” Mr. A was arrested by Chinese security authorities for helping North Korean defectors in China and served time in prison.
Family of Jailed Humanitarian Worker Struggling
Kim Bong Soon’s Letter
Hello, I am Kim Bong Soon, the wife of Choi Yong-hun.
My husband was arrested by the Chinese police in January 2003 for helping North Korean refugees and was sent to prison for 5 years. Today, he remains confined in the Weifang Prison, Shandong Province, China after serving 46 months of a 60-month sentence. He suffers from worsening chronic diabetes, hypertension, and asthma because of the poor living conditions in the prison.
Chinese Government Siezes More Refugees
65 Refugees, 2 Rescue Workers
LFNKR, together with all other human rights and humanitarian organizations, calls for China to release immediately the 65 North Korean refugees and the 2 Korean rescue workers, who have been arrested and are being unjustly held in prison.
LFNKR received the following English translation of a statement issued in Korean by the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag.