Family Care Foundation - North Korean Refugees

Who would win a war between North and South Korea?

2009-12-17T00:29:00.001-05:00

A nighttime satellite photo of the Korean Peninsula reveals the stunning gap between the modern South and the black hole that is North Korea. How can a country which can barely keep the lights on even think about starting a war?

"If the North starts anything, the North loses and I believe that firmly," said John Tilelli. Tilelli believes that based on his three years as the commanding General of the U.S. and South Korean forces.

It would be a contest of mass. The North Koreans have a million men under arms against the technology and training of 28,000 American and half a million South Korean troops. But the North Korean advantage in numbers would be quickly overwhelmed by U.S. reinforcements and airstrikes from as far away as Guam or as close in as submarines off the coast.

So what could the leaders of North Korea possibly hope to achieve in a war they know they cannot win?

"Their hope is that they can make the war so painful to the United States and South Korea that we will not pursue it to the end," said Joseph Bermudez who tracks the North Korean military for Jane's Defense Weekly. "They intend to employ chemical weapons, ballistic missiles right from the very beginning," Bermudez said. "If they feel threatened enough, they might even go nuclear. We're not sure."

Wars never go according to plan, but in the end the South would win and the North would lose, and it would be a disaster for all sides.

Read full CBS article

Reports of North Korea’s readiness to rejoin six-party talks

2009-12-15T01:08:00.001-05:00

Russia and the United States welcomed signals from North Korea (DPRK) that it was ready to rejoin the six-party talks, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.

"I welcome the DPRK's adherence to the six-nation negotiating process," Russia's chief nuclear envoy and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told a press briefing after meeting with Steven Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea.

Borodavkin lauded his talks with the U.S. officials. "The consultations were very frank," he said. The U.S. envoy, however, said no timetable had been set for the nuclear disarmament talks.

Source: Xinhua

U.S.-North Korea dialogue impacted by North Korean weapons haul

2009-12-14T01:03:00.002-05:00

A cargo plane full of North Korean weapons, detained in Thailand after an emergency landing at Bangkok airport, was bound for Ukraine, the Thai news agency TNA reported on Sunday.

Thai authorities, reportedly acting on a tip from their American counterparts, impounded an Ilyushin 76 transport plane, carrying explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles, during a refueling stop at Bangkok's Don Muang airport Saturday.

Four men from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus were detained, and are due to appear in court Monday. Thai authorities took the action because of a United Nations resolution banning the transport of certain weapons from or to North Korea, Thailand's Foreign Ministry said.

According to TNA, the plane's crew commander, a Belarusian national, said during a six-hour interrogation that the plane had flown from Ukraine and loaded weapons in North Korea. On its way back, the plane was intended to refuel in Thailand and Sri Lanka, following which the cargo was expected to be delivered to Ukraine, TNA reported.

"There is a possibility that the incident could have a negative effect on moves to get the North to rejoin the six-party talks and a U.S.-North Korea dialogue mood," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

Meet the North Korean Dynasty

2009-12-13T15:07:00.007-05:00

It looks as though North Korea's hereditary dynasty is firmly in place after all. The leadership succession is believed to center around the Kim Jong-un (26) and Kim Jong-il's younger sister Kyong-hee (63), her husband Jang Song-taek (63), and Kim Ok (45).Kim Jong-il's younger sister Kyong-hee is said to have undergone treatment for depression after her husband Jang Song-taek was sidelined in 2004 and her daughter Keum-song committed suicide due to marital problems. Her return to power is believed to be part of the regime's intention to publicize its support for Kim Jong-un's succession, according to North Korean sources.

Her husband Jang is now seen as the second most powerful man in the state, playing a key role in leading the country after Kim Jong-il's stroke in August last year.

Kim Ok, the de-facto first lady, was present as an advisor during the meeting and luncheon between the elder Kim and Hyundai Asan chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun in August.

Chosun Ilbo

The Secrecy over the Succession of Kim Jong-un

2009-12-12T00:33:00.003-05:00

It has been nine months since Kim Jong-un was apparently chosen to succeed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, but North Korea has yet to issue even a single photo of the younger Kim, the leader's third son, let alone officially announce his selection as successor.

What can be the reason? One high-ranking North Korean official who defected to South Korea said it’s because Kim Jong-il "has not officially recognized the succession." High-ranking sources in North Korea say the selection of a successor by the ruling elite in the months after Kim suffered a stroke in August last year progressed without his approval.

Close confidants, including his younger sister Kyong-hee and her husband Jang Song-taek, the first vice director of the Workers' Party, and Yi Je-kang, the first vice director of the Workers' Party Organization Guidance Department, may have rushed to choose a successor when Kim Jong-Il was ill.

The reasons why they chose the third son Jong-un, ruling out his first and second sons: Jong-un's selection reflected the wishes of the leader, but Kim's affinity to Jong-un does not necessarily mean he wished to appoint him as successor.

The second reason is that the confidants may be worried about their power depending on who becomes the next leader.

One North Korean who defected recently said, "Until June, lectures were held lauding junior leader Kim or a 'young general,' but there was absolutely no mention of the name Kim Jong-un."

Source: Chosun Ilbo

The impact of mobile phones on reporting on North Korea

2009-12-11T01:50:00.002-05:00

Dong-a Ilbo ran a story on the impact of mobile phones as far as gleaning information from North Korea.

In 1986, a South Korean daily reported that North Korea’s then leader Kim Il Sung died. Had it been true, the newspaper would have gotten a scoop. However, Kim Il Sung lived eight more years.

Mobile phones have since allowed South Korea’s media reports on North Korea to be more accurate. Recently mobile phones have played a critical role in letting the world know about the North’s H1N1 flu outbreak and currency revaluation.

The number of North Korean mobile phone subscribers to an Egyptian communications service will soon exceed 100,000.

Evaluation of Bosworth’s North Korean talks

2009-12-10T12:20:00.000-05:00

It remains to be seen whether North Korea will return to six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program, U.S. envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth said today upon completing a three-day trip to the communist nation.

Bosworth said he held talks with North Korean officials, but not President Kim Jong Il, because "we did not ask" for a meeting with the leader. He said they did not make plans for a future meeting.

Bosworth described his meetings in Pyongyang as "exploratory talks, not negotiations. …My purpose ... was to facilitate the resumption of the six-party talks and to reaffirm the goal of fully implementing the September 2005 joint statement," he said.

"I communicated President Obama's view that complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a fundamental undertaking of the six-party process ... and that the absence of progress on denuclearization is an obstacle to improving our relations."

As Obama "has made it clear, the United States is prepared to work with allies, partners in the region to offer ... North Korea a different future," Bosworth said.

North Korea rejects calls for UNHR expert’s visit

2009-12-10T01:12:00.003-05:00

North Korea rejected calls by members of the UN Human Rights Council to grant access to a UN independent expert to assess the human rights situation in the country.

Pyongyang also turned down recommendations for it to abolish the death penalty, end torture, and scrap military training for children, said the UN report summarizing an examination of the human rights situation in North Korea.

Other suggestions that did not find favor with Pyongyang also included calls to end forced labor and to allow for its citizens to move freely across borders and within the country.

They also bristled at accounts of systematic, widespread and grave human rights violations in North Korea. While turning down many recommendations in the final report, Pyongyang did agree to consider allowing international agencies such as the World Food Programme into the country as well as consider signing up to international labor and human rights treaties.

UN Human Rights Council condemns North Korea

2009-12-09T00:40:00.000-05:00

The North Korean delegation to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) attempted to defend North Korea's human rights record during a three-hour session. A “Universal Periodic Review” took place in Geneva, with the majority of the 47-nation council accusing the communist state of widespread rights abuses such as forced child labor, public executions and torture and criticized the lack of transparency about human rights conditions.

North Korean Ambassador Ri Tcheul denied allegations of torture, and claimed that serious malnutrition is no longer an issue in the country. Ri did acknowledge the occurrence of public executions but said they are only conducted for serious crimes at the request of the victims' families!

Several UNHRC representatives urged the North Korean government to allow aid workers to bring food to its citizens, while others called on Pyongyang to allow access to the UN Special Rapporteur.

Last October, UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea Vitit Muntarbhorn criticized North Korea’s "abysmal" and ongoing human rights violations in an independent report submitted to the UN General Assembly.

December 8-10th Worldwide Demonstrations to end North Korean Genocide

2009-12-08T00:12:00.003-05:00

Take note of the following demonstrations, amongst other worldwide locations:

USA - December 8th: Hand delivery of letter to North Korean Mission to the United Nations, New York

December 9th: Prayer and Candlelight vigil for North Korean Human Rights, organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition

UK - December 8th: Hand delivery of letter to North Korean Embassy, London

December 9th: Prayer and Candlelight vigil for North Korean Human Rights, organized by UK activists

Den Hague, Netherlands

December 9^th: Presentation of evidence of Crimes against Humanity in North Korea, in front of the International Criminal Court

December 10^th: The evidence will be submitted to the ICC Office

LETTER OF DEMANDS TO THE WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY:
We refuse to allow the North Korean Holocaust to continue any longer. Over 4,000,000 innocent North Koreans have been murdered by Kim Jong-Il’s regime since 1995, and an estimated 1,000,000 North Koreans have been murdered as a result of slave labor, rape, torture, starvation and execution in North Korea’s political concentration camps. The very existence of these Concentration Camps makes the North Korean State illegal, illegitimate, and criminal, and demands the immediate intervention of the International Community.

Our demands, based upon the foundation of International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are as follows:
1) The immediate and total liberation of all North Korean Political Concentration Camps
2) Compensation and re-imbursement to all North Korean victims of slavery, starvation, torture, all concentration camp survivors and North Korean people for immeasurable loss and suffering
3) The immediate stepping down from power of Kim Jong-Il and North Korea’s leaders
4) Through the guidance and oversight of a Coalition of North Korean Refugee Leaders, in partnership with President Lee Myung Bak and the International Community, we demand the liberation and rebuilding of North Korea upon the foundation of ensuring and guaranteeing without fail the human rights and safety of very North Korean individual according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Law, which was composed to prevent the atrocities of Nazi Germany from ever occurring again.

Seoul fears becoming odd man out in U.S.-North Korea talks

2009-12-08T12:31:00.000-05:00

President Obama’s envoy to North Korea, Stephen W. Bosworth, began a rare trip to Pyongyang today, on a mission to halt the North’s reactivated nuclear weapons program and persuade it to return to nuclear disarmament talks.

“South Korea fears that Bosworth’s trip can create a split in the international efforts to put pressure on the North through sanctions,” said Chang Yong-seok, an analyst at the Seoul-based Institute for Peace Affairs. “The rift may grow, depending on the outcome of his trip.”

Mindful of this concern, Washington emphasized that Mr. Bosworth was traveling with a narrow agenda: determining whether the North planned to return to six-nation nuclear talks and to recommit itself to a 2005 pledge to give up its nuclear assets in return for aid and security guarantees.

“We don’t intend to reward North Korea simply for going back to doing something that it had previously committed to do,” a senior American official said in Washington during a background briefing on the eve of Mr. Bosworth’s trip.

Kim Jong-il's Heir Apparent visited China in June

2009-12-07T00:51:00.001-05:00

Chosun Ilbo reports that Kim Jong-un, North Korean heir apparent, visited Beijing as a special envoy of his father Kim Jong-il in June.

The report said Jang Song-taek, Kim senior's brother-in-law and a high-up in the North Korean Workers' Party, visited Beijing on June 10, where he met Chinese President Hu Jintao, and was accompanied by Kim junior.

A Japanese broadcaster quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying Jang introduced Kim Jong-un to Hu. A similar report was carried by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun in June.

At the time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang officially denied the reports, saying, "The situation reported by the relevant media does not exist at all... I note that recent reports by the relevant media read like a 007 novel."

U.S. envoy Bosworth in Seoul, travels to North Korea Tuesday

2009-12-07T00:45:00.000-05:00

The U.S. envoy for North Korea arrived in the South on Sunday ahead of a visit to Pyongyang aimed at convincing the communist state to end its boycott of wider nuclear disarmament talks.

Stephen Bosworth, the first envoy sent by U.S. President Barack Obama to the North, is expected to arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday for a three-day stay where he will meet top North Korean officials, but not leader Kim Jong-il.

The United States and South Korea expect the North at least to pick up where it left off when it walked out on the deal more than a year ago.

North Korea destroying its newly-emerging middle class

2009-12-06T02:16:00.002-05:00

The North Korean government told its people on Monday that it was knocking two zero’s off the nominal value of banknotes, and North Koreans are "devastated" following these currency reforms that could wipe out their savings.

Ordinary people are reported to be desperately trying to buy as many goods as they can with the old currency while it is still valid. Under the new system, an old 1,000 North Korean won note will now be worth just 10 won.

Experts say this will increase officials' control over an already impoverished population, and reign in the activities of free markets that have sprung up across North Korea.

Yonhap quoted an interview the newspaper had conducted with a North Korean central bank official. The North Korean banker said international sanctions, natural disasters and the fall of the communist bloc had created economic hardship. This has forced the North to adjust its currency.

And there appears to be a limit on how much can be exchanged - one report says each adult can cash in only 100,000 won.( ie US$740)

Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector now living in the South, said: "My contacts [in North Korea] called me to say North Korean people are in despair, crying and shouting - just like a war."

Writing in the Korean Herald, North Korean expert Rudiger Frank said the currency reform was a political move as much as an economic one. He said officials want to destroy the newly-emerging middle class, many of whom have made money trading in the free markets.

BBC

Orders issued to shoot North Korean Defectors

2009-12-05T13:07:00.002-05:00

North Korea has ordered its border guards to open fire on anyone who crosses its border without permission, in what could be an attempt to thwart defections by people disgruntled over its recent currency reform, a news report said Saturday.

The National Defense Commission -- the top government body headed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- recently instructed soldiers to kill unauthorized border crossers on the spot, Chosun Ilbo said, citing unidentified sources inside the North.

It said the order could be an attempt by the communist government to stop members of North Korea's middle class who are angry over suddenly being deprived of their money from leaving the country.

The reported move came amid signs of growing anger among North Korean citizens left with hoards of worthless bills. On Monday, the government informed citizens and foreign embassies that it would redenominate the national currency, the won. But it limited the maximum amount of old bills that could be converted into new ones, telling residents to deposit the rest in government-run banks, according to media reports and diplomats. There are widespread doubts among North Koreans whether they would be able to get their money back.

Signatures needed for Petition to ICC on behalf of North Koreans

2009-12-05T02:21:00.002-05:00

Excerpts of a letter from Suzanne Scholte concerning the appeal to the International Criminal Court to be hand delivered to the ICC. Responses needed by December 7^th:

Kyung B. Lee of the Council for Human Rights in North Korea (Canada) is circulating an Appeal for Action for signatures. This petition is in support of the North Korean defectors who are appealing to the International Criminal Court requesting a preliminary examination and/or investigation on crimes against humanity being committed in North Korea. This appeal has already been endorsed by David Hawk, Rabbi Abraham Cooper and of course, the North Korea Freedom Coalition, and many NGOs in Canada and South Korea.

If you want to join in support, please respond directly to Kyung B. Lee with your name and/or NGO, via: kbl928@yahoo.com

“Whereas in particular the perceived wrong-doers and wrong-thinkers in North Korea are classified as enemies of class, subjected to enforced disappearance by state authorities without due judiciary process, and imprisoned at remote penal colonies (“political prison camps” or “gulags”), known as “kwan-li-so.” Once imprisoned, the inmates are subjected to slave labor, usually for life, and other atrocities, including beatings, tortures, induced starvation and executions;
“Whereas it is known that there are six such camps in North Korea imprisoning some 150,000 to 200,000 inmates, located at Kaecheon (39.579 N, 126.068 E), Yoduk (39.727 N, 126.845 E), Hwasong (41.3 N, 129.2 E), Bukchang (39.554 N, 126.065 E), Hoeryong (42.536 N, 129.935 E), and Chongjin (41.9 N. 129.7 E);
“Whereas in addition, thousands of North Koreans, forcibly repatriated from China and suspected of having had contacts with South Koreans or Korean-Chinese churches or other religious personnel while in China, are imprisoned in penitentiaries known as “kyo-hwa-so” and subjected to extremely brutal inhumane punishment.”

North Korean investigation urged by International Criminal Court

2009-12-04T01:21:00.004-05:00

A North Korean defector (at right) weeps while describing her ordeal at the Seoul Press Center. She spent time in a North Korean prison and explained the atrocities committed, urging an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

The event was hosted by a committee on investigating North Korea’s anti-humanitarian crimes, and organized by the civic groups Open North Korea and the Democracy Network against the North Korean Gulag.

Human Rights Watch and other NGOs speak out on North Korea

2009-12-02T00:28:00.001-05:00

The South Korean government should maintain its principled stance and consistently include a strong human rights agenda in all future dealings with North Korea, Human Rights Watch and three other nongovernmental organizations said in a letter to the South Korean unification minister.

The letter was signed by Human Rights Watch, Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, and The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea.

The letter urges South Korea to press China to protect North Korean refugees in line with China's international obligations.

The letter notes that, "South Korea has done much to resettle and assist North Korean refugees, but it can do more, particularly for those North Korean women and children who have faced sexual assault and exploitation during their flight."

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un makes the rounds with Kim Jong-il

2009-11-30T00:28:00.000-05:00

It’s documented that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's third son Kim Jong-un, rumored to be the heir apparent, accompanied his father on a trip to Wonsan in April.

The Mainichi Shimbun paper said this was the first time a written document revealed Kim Jong-un accompanied his father on one of his so-called "on-the-spot guidance" trips. It speculated the North "has started to keep documentation of Kim Jong-un's activities for the power transfer."

According to the Japanese daily, the document is described as "the first official document regarding General Comrade Kim Jong-Un."

[Chosun Ilbo]

International Lawmakers focus on North Korean Defectors

2009-11-29T00:48:00.000-05:00

An international group of lawmakers meeting in Thailand has urged countries to better protect and support North Korean defectors. They also demanded that China stop forcibly repatriating refugees to North Korea, where they could face execution.

Representatives from twelve countries met in Thailand Saturday to raise attention to the plight of North Korean refugees. The International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights says those who escape impoverished but tightly controlled North Korea to China often face abuse and discrimination because of their illegal status.

South Korean lawmaker Kim Yong-tae says women make up 80 percent of North Korean defectors, and most of them end up marrying Chinese men but neither they or their children have access to social services in China.

The lawmakers issued a joint statement calling on Pyongyang to end its gross human rights violations, including political detentions, torture, and public executions.

Full story

The number of choices overwhelming for North Koreans in the South

2009-11-28T00:56:00.001-05:00

Just a simple trip to a Seoul supermarket can present North Korean refugees with freedoms, choices and problems they'd never imagined in the North, where food choices are extremely limited.

"Many can't understand why they are so many brands of cheese or noodles here, when in the North there is just one, which few can afford to buy," said Joanna Hosaniak, from the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

The church group Durihana Association offers aid to North Korean defectors. It runs a small school, giving refugees a back-to-basics education. In small classrooms, small groups of students take their very first steps in learning English or using a computer, something that is a rare privilege in the north.

"When you explain what the Internet is and what you can do with it, they have no idea, because they only have one TV channel, things like that. It's really mind-blowing," said teacher Ko Han. "Suddenly they are thrown into one of the most high-tech, wired cities in the world and many can't cope."