NORTH KOREA

Media coverage of the Third Conference on North Korea Human Rights and Refugees

held on 9-10 February 2002 in Tokyo

The Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, Mr Willy Fautr, participated at the Conference and our subsequent press services will provide extensive information on human rights issues in North Korea

14 February 2002

Forum focuses on North Korea's rights abuses

Defectors describe horrors of prison camps. Activists say aid isn't reaching the needy. They seek a tougher stance by the West toward regime.

By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

TOKYO, Los Angeles Times (10.02.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -- North Korean defectors and human rights advocates called on Western countries Saturday, 9 February, to take a tougher line against North Korea, saying the Communist regime is misdirecting humanitarian aid and keeping political malcontents in nightmarish labor camps.

On the opening day of a two-day conference here, the participants said they hoped that President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in his "axis of evil" formulation will generate more global attention to the country and its abuse of human rights.

"The human rights situation in North Korea is the worst in the world," declared Haruhisa Ogawa, a representative of an organization in Tokyo that helps North Korean defectors. The first day of the International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees focused on testimony by North Koreans who have escaped across the porous border with China.

Lee Young Kuk, who served in the personal guard of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, described a labor camp known as Yodok political prison No. 15, to which he was sent after failing in a previous attempt to escape to China. Lee said that prisoners were beaten daily as punishment and that some were tortured and killed for trivial offenses, such as carrying food in their pockets. Lee said he witnessed one man being buried alive and another dragged to his death by a military car.

The prisoners were fed one small bowl of corn soup a day, and those who survived ate snakes, rats and grass and sometimes picked undigested kernels of corn from their own feces, Lee said.

Lee and other conference participants said that some prison camps hold entire families, including children, because one family member committed a political offense.

"There is increasing public discontent, but if somebody says a word, the whole family will be taken away to political prison camp," Lee said.

In some women's camps, particularly those for women who tried to escape to China, pregnant prisoners are subjected to abuse designed to induce abortions, conference participants said. Newborns reportedly are killed as a matter of routine. Willy Fautre, president of the Belgian organization Human Rights Without Frontiers, read testimony from former female prisoners who said they saw other prisoners forced to smother newborns.

But for all the alleged abuses at the labor camps, delegates said North Korea's worst human rights violation is the widespread food shortages caused by a regime unwilling to reform its shattered economy or to distribute humanitarian aid fairly. It is believed that more than 1 million North Koreans--and possibly as many as 2 million--out of a population of 24 million have died of starvation and hunger-related illnesses since the mid-1990s.

"This catastrophe is not the result of an act of God. It is the appalling product of a cynical act of man. It is a tragedy made possible only by totalitarian repression unparalleled in the world today," said Marcus Noland, a Korea specialist at the Institute for International Economics in Washington.

Human rights advocates at the conference said that much of the humanitarian aid donated by the West does not reach the people most in need but instead is reserved for the North Korean military and the leadership. They said that after aid is distributed, often in the presence of international monitors, officials return to collect it, saying it should be donated to the military in the form of "patriotic contributions."

"Food only enriches the leadership. Even food distributed under the auspices of the U.N. was sent to a kindergarten and then taken away," said Lee Jae Kung, 63, who escaped North Korea in 1998.

Lee, a former South Korean fisherman who lived for nearly 30 years in the North after his boat was captured by a North Korean patrol, said: "It is almost impossible to believe what is going on in North Korea. If you go to Pyongyang [the capital], everything appears orderly, but when you get into the villages, the conditions of life are beyond what anybody can imagine."

The conference was organized by a conservative South Korean newspaper and the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonpartisan U.S.-backed organization that promotes democracy. Although the participants were united in their criticism of the North Korean government, they disagreed about how to approach the problem.

Varied Responses Urged

Some defectors said that humanitarian aid is counterproductive--that it only prolongs the existence of the regime--while others said enough food aid is getting through to people in need to make it worthwhile. A few participants said South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" of dialogue with the North will eventually help, while others argued that such policies are no better than were attempts to appease Adolf Hitler.

"Those who keep silent about what is happening in North Korea are guilty too. Maybe that is the real axis of evil," said Norbert Vollertsen, a German physician and aid worker.

To the extent that there was any consensus Saturday, the delegates recommended that Western aid organizations make sure that distribution of food in North Korea is closely monitored. There also was widespread agreement that the international community should do more to help the more than 100,000 North Korean refugees living in China. Defectors and aid organizations said the female refugees are often subjected to abuse, sold by human traffickers into prostitution or forced into unwanted marriages.

In addition, North Koreans who are illegally in China live in constant fear of being arrested and returned to the North, where they would probably be sent to prison camps. Human rights advocates are lobbying for the creation of refugee camps along the Chinese-North Korean border that would provide shelter for the defectors until they can be resettled in other countries.

Fautre, the Belgian human rights expert, said he and others hope that Bush's branding of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and Iraq, will mean a greater focus on the regime in Pyongyang.

"I don't believe the sunshine policy is working anymore. I think we need to do something more subversive to topple this government but in a nonviolent way. Maybe smuggling in radios to the people. I think with the 'axis of evil' speech, others are beginning to see it in the same way," Fautre said.

Fautre's dream and that of others lobbying for camps along the border is that an outflow of defectors would eventually weaken the regime.

North Korea defectors claim aid sham

By Joji Sakurai

TOKYO , Associated Press, (08.02.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Three North Koreans who fled oppression and famine in their homeland claimed on 8 February that international food aid is not reaching the starving and the government is resorting to elaborate schemes to fool U.N. monitors.

The defectors, who are in Tokyo to give testimony at an international conference on human rights in North Korea, said millions of dollars worth of food aid is being stockpiled in mountain military complexes and used to feed soldiers and the ruling elite.

"Aid hasn't gotten to people in need and it's being redirected to the North Korean military and the people in power," said Lee Young Kuk, a former bodyguard to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

"I know about this because I worked in the security network. ... It's all a farce," he told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

Another defector, Lee Jae Kun a native of the South who was trained as a North Korean spy after being abducted by Pyongyang agents said security officials order villagers to load carts with bags of rice to show U.N. aid monitors. When the observers leave, the rice is taken away, he said.

"The U.N. is shown lists of what food went where and to whom, but that's all fake," he said.

The defectors, who now live in South Korea, gave a detailed picture of misery in the North: rivers flowing with the bodies of those who starved to death, labor camps where live burials and flayings are common, an atmosphere of paranoia in which relatives denounce each other to the authorities.

The former bodyguard, Lee Young Kuk, said he was sent to the North's harshest political prisoner camp, Yodok, after he was tricked into visiting Pyongyang's embassy in Beijing thinking it was the South Korean mission during his first defection attempt.

One inmate accused of stealing salt was tied to a vehicle and dragged for 21/2 miles at high speeds and "became de-skinned," he said in written testimony released Friday. "We were forced to touch his deformed body, which was tied to a stake to display as an example."

In his comments to reporters he said: "I have watched so many deaths in North Korea I almost lost the concept of human dignity."

The defectors said the flight to freedom contains other horrors.

Jung Choon Hwa said the border between North Korea and China where defectors flee first before seeking a route to South Korea or elsewhere is full of human traffickers who sell women into prostitution.

Rapes and beatings are common, she said. But the traffickers are often the only people to turn to as guides.

"The North Korean women must go to the human traffickers because we don't know how to cross the border," she said. "We have to rely on them."

Despite their brutal experiences, the defectors had mixed feelings about President Bush's appraisal of Pyongyang as forming part of an "axis of evil."

"Bush is stepping ahead without looking around," said Lee Jae Kun.

Activists worry about North Korea

By Hans Greimel

TOKYO, Associated Press (9.02.2002) HRWF International Secretariat (14.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net- Mounting oppression and famine in North Korea have become a threat to global peace, delegates to an international conference on North Korean human rights said Saturday.

Instability in North Korea pushes thousands of refugees into neighboring countries, while the country's economic and political isolation make it prone to international trafficking in weapons and drugs, activists warned at the opening session of the two-day International

Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees.

"Governments that repress domestic dissent externalize that dissent, in effect exporting their internal problems to the rest of the world," said Marcus Noland, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Institute for International Economics.

To ease such tensions, delegates urged other countries to engage in diplomatic talks with reclusive North Korea, while leaning harder on the country to respect human rights.

They also urged rich countries such as the United States to be more willing to accept North Korean refugees, who often stream into China and Russia only to be sent back to North Korea, where they are imprisoned.

The conference, which hosts dozens of activists from eight countries, comes ahead of a regional visit by President Bush, who is expected to discuss North Korean relations with leaders of Japan and South Korea.

Bush, who has backtracked on the warmer relations with Pyongyang fostered by former President Clinton, recently singled out the regime as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and Iraq.

UN aid urged for North Korea refugees

By Hans Greimel

TOKYO, Associated Press (10.02.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The United Nations should spearhead relief efforts for North Korean refugees in China and Russia, delegates said on 10 February on the final day of an international conference on human rights in North Korea.

Defectors who flee oppression and famine in North Korea often face new problems once they sneak across the border into neighboring countries. Denied legal status as immigrants or refugees, many struggle to make a living and fear being sent home, where they are often put in prison or sometimes executed as traitors.

Led by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the international community should pressure China and Russia to allow independent relief groups into border regions to help the refugees, activists said at the closing session of the two-day International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees.

"Along the border with China, tens of thousands of North Korean refugees live in hunger and in fear of forced return," said Jack Rendler, vice chairman of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. "News from increasing numbers of refugees is consistently horrible."

Up to 150,000 North Korean migrants live in China, according to activist estimates.

If China were to classify them as refugees, they would be one step closer to receiving U.N.-supplied food and shelter. Instead, a treaty between allies China and North Korea requires Beijing to deport them.

The resolution adopted at the Tokyo meeting called on China to halt the practice.

Beijing maintains that North Koreans in its territory are not refugees under the U.N. definition because they crossed the border for economic motives, not political reasons.

South Korean activists, however, believe the refugees should be classified as political refugees because they would be subject to political persecution if they were deported to the North.

Speaking at the Tokyo conference, defector Lee Young Kuk said he was sent to the North's harshest political prisoner camp, Yodok, after his first defection attempt failed.

He described scenes of political prisoners being skinned or buried alive.

In the past, the UNHCR has accused China of violating international refugee laws by deporting North Koreans.

The Tokyo conference, which drew dozens of activists from eight countries, came ahead of a regional visit by President Bush, who is expected to discuss North Korean relations with leaders of Japan and South Korea.

Bush urged to press China on providing relief for refugees secretly fleeing North Korea

By JAMES BROOKE, New York Times

TOKYO, New York Times (10.02.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - As the Chinese police try to block an underground railroad that funnels North Koreans to northern China, human rights advocates appealed today to President Bush to press Chinese leaders for relief when he visits Asia next week.

Escaping famine and a totalitarian government, about 200,000 North Koreans, about 1 percent of the population, have fled to northern Chin in recent years. There they live clandestine lives, fearing discovery, deportation and disappearance into North Korea's prison camps.

Refugee advocates, gathered here for a conference on human rights in North Korea, say they were heartened when President Bush included North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' with Iran and Iraq. They hope Mr. Bush, who is scheduled to arrive here Sunday at the start of a trip to Japan, South Korea and China, will urge concrete measures to help the refugees. Among the steps th advocates are promoting are these:

*Orderly transit camps should be set up with international financing in China and Mongolia.

*Residence status should be offered to North Korean refugees, starting in countries with large ethnic Korean populations, like the United States, China, Russia, Japan and Brazil.

"Twenty years ago, the world was confronted with a similar problem with the mass exodus of boat people from Vietnam,'' Marcus Noland, a Korea specialist for the Institute for International Economists, said in a keynote speech at the meeting, the Third International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees. ''The international community underwrote the establishment of temporary resettlement camps in surrounding Asian nations with the promise that these would be way stations to permanent resettlement.''

With South Korea a multiparty democracy and China and Russia increasingly open societies, North Korea now sticks out in the region as a Stalinist throwback. At the same time, North Korea has taken steps to open up to the world, increasing air links, seeking foreign investment and establishing diplomatic relations over the last two years with Australia, Brazil, Canada and most of the European Union.

Rights groups now feel they have some leverage with a government that depends heavily on food and on donations from the United States, Japan and South Korea. Last fall, a bipartisan group of prominent Americans formed the privately financed Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

While rights promoters disagreed here over tactics, many agreed that the opening of protected refugee camps in China and Mongolia would destabilize North Korea. ''We would try to create a flood, spreading information about the camps through the underground railroad across North Korea,'' said Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor who was expelled from North Korea a year ago for trying to show American reporters the underside of the nation.

But China, Russia and South Korea fear that a collapse of the North Korean government would unleash a mass exodus from the North. Last month, military officials from the three countries gathered in Seoul for a week of simulated computer scenarios based on a hypothetical flood of 100,000 refugees into the South.

About 200,000 North Koreans are confined in a prison camp system where conditions are so harsh that an estimated 400,000 have died over the last 30 years, said Jack Rendler, a human rights advocate from Minneapolis, who is vice chairman of the new American committee.

Mr. Rendler said North Korea's government had stratified society into 51 different loyalty classifications, with foreign food and medical aid going to the most loyal. ''The people who are dying are considered less loyal to the regime,'' said Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, a pro-democracy group financed by the United States government.

On a recent visit to Japan C a major food donor to North Korea -- Catherine Bertini, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, said her agency had improved monitoring of food deliveries. Over the last five years, she said, the World Food Program had won access to about 80 percent of North Korea's 211 counties.

"'Today we feed literally one-third of the population of North Korea,'' Ms. Bertini, an American, said. ''Tens of thousands of children are alive today, and will be alive because of this rice.''