US activist to start global drive to help NK defectors in China

“We will start a letter-sending campaign to discourage Chinese embassies and consulates across the world not to send North Korean defectors back to North Korea.

Suzanne Scholte (picture), head of the Defense Forum Foundation, said this to The Dong-A Ilbo Wednesday at her office in Washington.

The North Korean human rights activist, showing a copy of a letter to be sent to a Chinese embassy, also said, “South Korea should be more aggressively engaged in the anti-repatriation campaign. Now is the time for the world to change China’s policy on North Korean defectors.”

“China`s policy on North Korean defectors is in violation of international agreements and encourages violence in China, which will never be good for Beijing,” she added. “While Beijing rejects the request from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, who wants to survey North Korean defectors in the border regions, it allows North Korean agents to enter the regions and help them kill North Korean defectors and the Chinese activists who help them.”

Scholte has arranged defector testimonies at the U.S. Congress every year. “After testimonies, Americans are appalled by the fact that a Holocaust-equivalent human rights violation is still happening in this era. It’s a shame that South Korea has not yet passed the North Korea human rights bill for years.”

“Why does politics interfere with North Korea’s human rights issue? South Korean leftists should stop opposing the human rights bill.”

She added, “Seoul’s decision to officially propose the issue of North Korean defectors at the U.N. Human Rights Council won`t reap big results. It should negotiate with Beijing. It should send a delegation and hold an open negotiation, not backroom dealing. Then Beijing will learn how serious it is.”

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday, “Washington is very concerned about North Korean human rights, refugees and their trouble,” adding, “We will make further efforts to find solutions to protect North Korean refugees with the (human rights commissioner), other international organizations, and Northeast Asian countries.”

mickey@donga.com