NORTH KOREA

16 November 2001

Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor...

Monitoring of food distribution

The European Union on the side of North Korean refugees

UN Human Rights Committee puts pressure on North Korea

Changes in North Korean concentration camp structure

Eleven North Korean Defectors Arrive in Seoul

International Conference in Tokyo

On Tuesday 4 December

Dr Norbert Vollertsen will be visiting Human Rights Without Frontiers

in Brussels.

Last year, Dr Vollertsen was a privileged witness of the situation in North Korea (human rights, humanitarian aid, etc.).

Since then he has been testifying in various international fora.

Those who want to meet him should contact our secretariat

32 2 3456145 as soon as possible. A meeting will be held in our offices but appointments can also be made for private talks

in your own office in Brussels.

Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor...

Children die in hospitals from lack of food and medecines, while ruling-party officials cruise around town in latest-model Mercedes-Benzes and dine at fancy restaurants where they pay with U.S. dollars. Much of the aid aimed to help the tormented North Korean population end elsewhere, claims Norbert Vollertsen.

HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - Ten years as a general practitioner in the central German university town of Goettingen left Norbert Vollertsen unprepared for what he saw in North Korea: malnourished children so emaciated that they looked half their age, watching their friends die through lifeless eyes; teenage girls trekking hundreds of kilometres in freezing winters and sweltering summers to scavenge for food for their families; hospitals without windows or toilets, the doctors often starving themselves. The memories keep the 42-year-old German awake some nights. But it's anger that drives him.

Vollertsen spent 18 months in North Korea, from July 1999 to December last year, with German emergency medical-aid agency Komitee Cap Anamur, which works from 10 hospitals and three orphanages spread throughout the famine-wracked country. He wanted a change of scene from his comfortable, slow-paced life in Germany, where his 14-year marriage had ended in divorce.

He found just such a change in North Korea, gaining unusual access to many regions, thanks to his decision to supply some of his own skin to a burn victim in the port city of Haeju. For that kindness he became the first foreigner to be awarded a "friendship medal," which served as a passport to some of the suffering provinces. "The medal meant nobody stopped me when I went out by car," he says.

The medal became a ticket to a nightmare. Expecting to see conditions in the countryside reflecting the rising prosperity in Pyongyang, he found instead hospitals without basic medical equipment. "In the first four weeks I saw four children die and couldn't do anything about it," he says. "One 14-year-old girl was so thin she looked three years old. People are in such bad condition they have heart problems and brain defects due to lack of protein. Young adults have no hope, no future. You can see it in their eyes." Some find solace in a crude alcohol that dulls their sorrows, and ruins what's left of their health.

The scenes convinced him that much of the aid donated by the outside world wasn't saving the lives it was intended to save. Instead, he believes much of it is padding the pockets of ruling-party officials who cruise around town in latest-model Mercedes-Benzes and dine at fancy restaurants where they pay with U.S. dollars. Vollertsen, who admits that his evidence is anecdotal, says he has seen food and medical equipment supplied by his agency locked inside a warehouse when it should already have been distributed. On that occasion he kicked down the door. He accuses other aid organizations of not being as determined as they should be to hold Pyongyang to account for the aid it receives.

Vollertsen was forced by authorities to leave North Korea on December 30 and took a ferry from China to South Korea. In Seoul, he has declared opinions that have thrust him into the media spotlight--and set him at odds with much of the international aid community. He says international aid agencies are acting like "slaves" of Pyongyang by failing to confront North Korean authorities about patchy monitoring of aid deliveries and rampant human-rights violations, even though they have the leverage to do so.

() Fed up, he decided to start breaking the rules. He walked out of official functions before the inevitable toast to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. When U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang in October, he drove a group of foreign journalists around miserably ill-equipped hospitals in defiance of orders that the press corps should not venture out unaccompanied. Intervention by the German government saved him from expulsion.

Later that month he angered his minders by insisting on examining and photographing the corpse of a soldier, apparently malnourished and tortured, lying at a roadside (a rare sight as most deaths from malnutrition occur at home and those that don't are quickly cleared away). In November, he sent a statement of humanitarian principles he believes are being violated in North Korea to Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry and to visiting U.S. Congressman Tony Hall.

That was the last straw. Vollertsen was confined to Pyongyang (and claims his car was sabotaged) until his visa ran out.

Source: John Larkin, Far Eastern Economic Review, January 25, 2001

HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - The distribution of food by foreign relief agencies in North Korea has been a controversial issue for a long time. Up to now, the monitoring has been very difficult.

Moreover, nothing proves that North Koreans in the direst need who receive the food are always allowed to keep it. Simulating is not new in North Korea There have also been cases in the past when there were simulated purchases of goods in state department stores while foreign prominent personalities were visiting the premises. Other example of attempt to fool foreigners :in the report " What happens in Yo-duck? " published in Chosun Ilbo on 10 November, 2001, we hear that all the buildings of a prison were destroyed during the winter and prisoners had to hide for 20 days in a hole dug in the ground because of a possible visit of an international human rights organization.

When establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea, the German government had put the monitoring of the distribution of food as a precondition to the sending of meat. The time has come to check whether the North Korean regime will keep its word. Joongang Ilbo said in its 9 November issue:

"German Beef to Reach North Korea Next Monday

Joongang Ilbo, November 09, 2001

Six thousand tons of German beef worth $6 million is on its way to North Korea as food aid, and more is in store provided the Pyeongyang Government does not divert it for military use, the Ministry of Agriculture of Germany said Thursday.

The shipment is expected to arrive in North Korea on Monday on November 12 and the beef will be distributed to child care centers, hospitals, schools and homes with children, vice-Minister for Agriculture Matthias Berninger said.

"The second load of 6,000ton is slated for late January or early February next year," Minister Berninger said. "However the second load would be determined by the fair distribution of the first load and if the conditions are right we plan to provide another 6,000 ton later on."

The related official added that the Ministry has already secured second round of load bound to North Korea already bound for the North early next month.

German beef which took off back in September 28 and finally arriving six weeks later to the North harbor would be distributed to four different harbors in the North to assure equal distribution to the impoverished provinces.The North's beef, which would be provided without the assistance from the UN's World Food Program (WFP), would instead have GTZ agents from German Agency for Technical Cooperation and other journalists to monitor the whole procedure. ARD (Allgemeiine Deutsche Rundfunkanstalten) one of German's public broadcast would also be there to capture the unloading process in the port.

German Government back in April decided to provide North Korea with 30,000 ton of meat for humanitarian support as an alternative to settle the scare for mad cow diseases within the nation However with the meat demand starting to show increase the government had to go through extra trouble to secure the extra meat, thus postponing the supplying schedule. North Korea too called for Germany to provide meat in wintertime due to problems of storage.

Germany has been seeking ways for multilateral exchanges with North Korea since the normalizing of ambassador-level ties in early March this year."

The European Union on the side of North Korean refugees

Willy Fautr, Human Rights Without Frontiers/ HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - During this second semester of 2001, Belgium is chairing the European Union.

This summer, Human Rights Without Frontiers sent well documented letters to Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Foreign Minister Louis Michel about the plight of North Korean refugees in North China. HRWF was then asking the (Belgian) Presidency of the European Union to urge a Chinese delegation visiting European institutions to put an end to the deportation of NK refugees back to North Korea.

On 22 October 2001, Foreign Minister Louis Michel answered HRWF:

In its quality of Presidency of the European Union, Belgium took the initiative to question the Chinese authorities about the plight of North Korean refugees in China. In July 2001, Belgian and Spanish ambassadors and the Commission Representative in Bejing approached the relevant Chinese authorities to inform China about the European Unions concern with regard to this issue.

As I was in Durban for well-known reasons, I could not take part in the Summit between the European Union and China which took place in Brussels on 5 September last. At that summit, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt voiced the European concerns on the plight of North Korean refugees in China.

A number of media echoed Belgian Prime Ministers move.

UN Human Rights Committee puts pressure on North Korea

North Korean Human Rights Newsletter vol.54 October, 2001 / HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva was held last July, where human rights reports of North Korea and other countries were examined. North Korea threatened that they will withdraw from International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, when the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities accused North Korea of the maltreatment of its people 4 years ago. That is why the second periodic report of North Korea drew world attention.

During the examination process representatives of North Korea was asked to answer written questionnaires about the reports followed by face-to-face questions and answers. One week later, UN Human Rights Committee announced concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee after comprehensive observation on North Koreas report with an assessment and recommendations.

A Korean expert who watched the whole process said that members of UN Human Rights Committee thoroughly inquired about human trafficking regarding North Korean female defectors residing in China. Those questions, according to what a Korean expert said, seem to have something to do with the final report of the second international conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees. In the second international conference, we have talked about the human rights situation of NK female defectors, especially of human trafficking. He told us that NGOs in South Korea should focus on examining practical situation of human rights abuses of NK defectors and providing the world society with reports.

Thanks to the efforts of Carl Gershman, Suzanne Scholte, Jack Rendler with other prominent individuals of the US, we now have partnership NGOs, working for improvement of the North Korean human rights situation, in Korea, Japan, France and the US. It is high time for all of us to step up our efforts in alliance with the organizations in other free countries, extending our scope of activities.

The initiative activities of the US Committee listed seven objectives that would guide its work:

1) Demanding that the famine relief that is being donated to North Korea can be monitored by independent assistance organizations to verify that this relief is reaching those whom it is intended to help;

2) Demanding that other economic assistance to North Korea be conditioned on meaningful improvements in addressing the three critical problems of human rights, refugee protection, and famine relief;

3) Pressuring the government in Pyongyang to cease criminalizing the act of leaving the country without permission and severely punishing those who are forcibly repatriated; and also insisting that China recognize the escapees as political refugees who must not be forcibly returned;

4) Finding new ways to provide information to the people of North Korea, thus ending their enforced isolation;

5) Developing multiple channels of exchange and contact with the North Korean people;

6) Insisting that human rights organizations and independent media be given access to North Korea, thereby ending the information blockade that has prevented the true picture of conditions in North Korea to be revealed to the outside world;

7) Encouraging companies investing in North Korea to develop a code of conduct, similar to the Sullivan principles that were applied in South Africa to protect workers and other citizens.

Changes in North Korean concentration camp structure

Chosun Ilbo, November 10, 2001 / HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - The political prison camp in Yo-duck (Yodok), Han-nam, is where I has been imprisoned from 1977 to 1987, and Ive continued to inform the realities of it with An Hyuck, whom I met in the camp, after I escaped from North Korea in 1992. A growing number of defectors, having fled from the camp in Yo-duck, eventually enters South Korea.

The North Korean government has distinguished concentration camps and labor camps and monitored these two zones separately. In the concentration camps you mainly find those who are sentenced to life imprisonment and little information come from these. Those who are in the labor camp, where I was imprisoned, have some hope of release. According to recent witnesses, almost all of these zones have changed to concentration camps. In contrast to the past when all the other members of the family were imprisoned, only the prisoner himself is imprisoned in the cell nowadays.

Before 1987 half of the prison camps in Yo-duck, Yip-suck-ri, and Dae-suk-ri, were labor camps, and Yong-pyong-ri, and Pyong-jon-ri were concentration camps situated in flat land where rice harvest was possible. As labor camps in Ku-eup-ri and Yi-suck-ri were changed to concentration camps in 1987, all the imprisoned families were deported to Dae-suk-ri, a marginal zone of Yo-duck prison. In other words, 80% of the prisons were changed to concentration camps, with only Dae-suck-ri left as a labor camp.

Recent defectors allegde that families, who lived in the labor zone, were forced to move to the concentration camp, or they were released. Yi Young-Hi, (fake name) who recently entered South Korea, informed us that prisoners in the labor camp have been released continuously since 1987. Those who are categorized dangerous rebels were forced to move to the concentration camps. They were given the impression of being released but then put in a truck with all their belongings. Among them are two daughters and wife of Oh Kil-nam, who was a scholar in Germany and entered North Korea with his family as a secret agent.

Pyong-il Kim, the first pilot of Jong-il Kims private plane, was imprisoned with his son and daughter, and 800 to 1000 prisoners left behind in the labor camp were foreign delegates and defectors. 8 out of 11 pilots were put in prison in 1996 because they were known to have criticized the government and jokingly said: why dont we hit Kims palace with the plane? 200 young men were also imprisoned during the anti-government movement in Shin-ui-ju, 1998. Back-young Yi, who was imprisoned in Yo-duck said that the generals and lieutenants who were responsible for the failure of the submarine invasion into South Korea were also imprisoned.

With the growing food crisis, the situation in the camp became worse. Yi said that 200 out of 800 prisoners in the labor camp are dying due to malnutrition and forced labor. They are just surviving with 80g of corns and water gruel. The number of prisoners doesnt decrease because the prison is always replenished with lots of newcomers. One winter, they destroyed all the buildings at Yoduck, dug a hole in the ground, and hid there for 20 days in the cold because they heared that an international human rights organization might visit the camp.

According to domestic and international human rights organizations, there are more than 150,000 inmates in more than 10 prison camps in North Korea.

Eleven North Korean defectors arrive in Seoul

AP Network News, November 9, 2001 HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - A group of 11 North Korean defectors have recently arrived here (Seoul) after drifting in a third country, the National Intelligence Service said Friday. Most of them were residents of Hamkyong Province, and they defected the country between April 1997 and February this year due to economic hardship. Six are members of the same family.

International Conference in Tokyo

HRWF International Secretariat (15.11.2001) - Website: www.hrwf.net / E-mail: info@hrwf.net - The 3rd International Conference on North Korea Human Rights & Refugees will be held in the conference hall at the Asia Youth Center in Tokyo from February 8 to 10, 2002. We have already hosted two international conferences, involving North Korean asylum-seekers in South Korea, human rights or refugee-related NGOs, diplomatic representatives, journalists, and scholars from different parts of the globe, to provide an opportunity to learn more about the issue and discuss possible solutions.

This will be a unique occasion for human rights advocates to share their knowledge, recommendations and new ideas for collective action in the future. This year's conference, also supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is determined to refocus waning international concern on human rights issues in North Korea.