Tag Archives: The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea
29 Seek Sanctuary in Japanese School
Beijing, China
On Wednesday, the first of September 2004, at around 10:30 AM, a group of 29 North Korean refugees, which included 3 children, 15 women and 11 men, entered a Japanese school in Beijing, and requested asylum.
That same afternoon, all refugees were transferred to the consulate section of the Japanese embassy, where they are being protected. In previous cases, once refugees are handed over to Chinese authorities, within a few days they are repatriated to North Korea, where they face severe punishment and in a few extreme cases, summary execution.
Int’l Conference on NK Refugees
The First International Planning Conference…
… for the Rescue of North Korean Refugees and Humanitarian Aid Workers hosted by the Japanese and Korean NGO Coalition was held in Tokyo on 18 and 19 July 2004. The two-day Conference, organized by three Japanese NGOs (The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea, RENK, and Life Funds for North Korean Refugees), attracted approximately 100 participants from 9 NGOs and 6 countries.
Tokyo Demonstration for Hunger Strikers
Hiroshi Kato of LFNKR addresses the Chinese embassy
A demonstration was held at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, by The society to Help Returnees to North Korea, jointly with LFNKR. This demonstration was in response to reports of a hunger strike by North Korean refugees detained in Tumen, who are protesting China’s plan to repatriate them to North Korea.
In addition, a letter addressed to President Hu Jin Tao of China was handed to embassy personnel. The letter requested the release of detained refugees to a third country, as well as the release of humanitarian aid workers still imprisoned in China.