North Korean defectors in U.S. testify to Pyongyang’s abuse of prisoners


A U.S. congressman urged the U.S. government to link treatment of North Korean refugees to recently-agreed food aid at a hearing on China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in Washington on Monday.

“It’s unclear whether or not the Obama administration’s food aid to North Korea ― some 240,000 metric tons per year ― contains any conditions or links to the refugees. It should,” said Rep. Chris Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

He was referring to the agreement between Washington and Pyongyang last week to ship 240,000 tons of nutritional assistance for North Korean women and children, in exchange for a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests and nuclear activities at Yongbyon and IAEA inspections.

The hearing came as some 30 North Korean defectors held by the Chinese authorities are at risk of being sent back to their homeland where their new leader Kim Jong-un reportedly warned he would wipe out three generations of any family with a member caught defecting during the 100-day mourning period for his late father Kim Jong-il.

China, a major ally of the North, regards North Korean defectors as “illegal economic migrants,” not refugees.

The Republican from New Jersey criticized China’s policy, calling it “cruel and barbaric.”

At the hearing, which was broadcast live through the website of the commission, a North Korean mother Han Song-hwa and her daughter Jo Jin-hye ― who eventually found asylum in the U.S. in 2008 ― testified to how harshly North Korean police tortured defectors after they were repatriated from China. Han said China repatriated her four times, each time causing her tremendous fear.

She said some 30 North Korean defectors, now held in China, would feel the same way she did.

“The prisoners are handcuffed and chained to one another, and if the slightest noise is made, the prisoners are beaten with rifle butts,” Han said.

Jo said repatriated North Korean women went through more cruel abuse.

To stop China from repatriating North Korean defectors, the South Korean government took the issue to the U.N. Human Rights Council last week and called for international support to pressure China.

The U.S. officially supported Seoul’s stance at the U.N. human rights panel on Friday.

Seoul’s parliamentary committee also passed a resolution denouncing China’s repatriation policy last week.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)