`Chinese Police Retrieved Corpses of 56 NK Escapees`

An official document reported yesterday said Chinese police in 2003 discovered 56 bodies of North Korean defectors shot while trying to entering China near the Amnok River.

The U.S.-based North Korean Economy Watch (http://www.nkeconwatch.com) run by George Mason University economist Curtis Melvin said the document dated Oct. 7, 2003, was written by officials of Changbai Korean Autonomous County in Baishan in China’s Jilin province.

Following the discovery of 53 bodies on the morning of Oct. 3, 2003, three additional bodies were found the next day.

If the document is confirmed as authentic, it could serve as evidence of brutality against North Korean defectors that will fuel heated debate over their human rights issues.

The document said, “The autopsy showed that all 56 victims were North Koreans shot dead. It proves that they were gunned down by North Korean border patrols when they tried to illegally enter China.”

The victims comprised 36 males and 20 females, including five boys and two girls.

Melvin’s Web site is making an online map of the location of North Korea’s key government and public offices, military facilities and residential areas by using satellite images from Google Earth.

The posting has been uploaded by an online user with the user ID “treasuresthouhast” after it was taken down from the Chinese Web portal site “Wangyi (http://bbs.163.com).”

triplets@donga.com