03 December 2002
Senator Sam Brownback Decries Pyongyang's Brutality to Its People
(Urges refugee camps to help North Koreans go to other countries)
(1430)
The Pyongyang regime forces its citizens to live under "unspeakable
conditions," with North Koreans suffering from hunger, disease, and
"brutal oppression by a cruel, totalitarian regime," according to
Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas and member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The Kansas lawmaker made those observations at a forum on the North
Korean refugee crisis at the American Enterprise Institute in
Washington, D.C. December 2, where he advocated setting up refugee
camps in other countries to begin a process of getting North Korean
refugees to countries willing to take them in.
Brownback criticized Pyongyang's communist rulers for a policy of
"imprisonment on trumped up or otherwise arbitrary charges," with
conditions of confinement being described as "a fate worse than
death."
North Korean refugees who flee to China, he said, "face further, and
in some cases greater, persecution as a result of their desperate
attempt at freedom."
The Beijing regime, Brownback said, mistreats North Korean refugees
and often sends them back to North Korea.
"In violation of its obligations under Article 33 of the U.N.
Convention on Refugees, the Chinese government refuses to grant those
fleeing North Korea refugee status and instead cooperates with the
North Korean security authorities in forced repatriation of these
people," Brownback said.
"It is time now for the Chinese authorities to give serious attention
to this human rights disaster and take affirmative steps to work with
the UNHCR and other NGO groups in developing a regularized process for
helping the refugees," he added.
"We can do this immediately by setting up refugee camps in Mongolia
and other neighboring countries to begin the process of finding safe
passage to South Korea or other countries -- including the United
States -- willing to take these refugees," Brownback said.
Following is the text of the December 2 news release from the office
of Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas:
(begin text)
Brownback Speaks at Forum on North Korea
Monday, December 2, 2002
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today spoke at a forum on the
North Korean refugee crisis, held at the American Enterprise Institute
in Washington, D.C.
"If there was ever an issue that demands the attention of the media,
the policy community, government officials, and ordinary citizens
concerned about basic human rights and liberties, this is it,"
Brownback said. "The people of North Korea live under unspeakable
conditions - suffering hunger, disease, and brutal oppression by a
cruel, totalitarian regime. Most of the reported hundreds of thousands
who have fled across the Chinese border have risked their lives
because they regard it as their only hope for survival. Tragically,
their harrowing journeys across the border are often only the
beginning of a long ordeal that leads to even greater danger when they
reach China.
"The refugee crisis began with a devastating famine in the early
1990's, that by some estimates has left 57 percent of the North Korea
population malnourished, including 45 percent of children under age
five. Just to give you some context on the impact of this crisis, I
recently learned that the North Koreans have lowered their height
requirements for adult male military conscripts from 4 feet, 11 inches
to 4 feet, 2 inches because of widespread stunted growth in the
population. Note that the age of conscription has not dropped - the
reality is that a whole generation of adults and children have
suffered prolonged malnutrition and this is the fruit of all this
devastation. This fact - among many - vividly demonstrates the reason
why North Korea is one of history's worst regimes.
"But as bad as the famine has been, its horror has been dramatically
deepened by social, economic and political policies of Kim Jong Il.
Imprisonment on trumped up or otherwise arbitrary charges is
commonplace and conditions of confinement are often described as a
fate worse than death.
"Those who flee North Korea are risking their lives in the hopes of
finding something better in China. The sad reality is that they face
further and in some cases greater persecution as a result of their
desperate attempt at freedom. At best, North Korean refugees find
themselves utterly dependent on the kindness of strangers in China to
whom they appeal for mercy and assistance upon their arrival. Sadly
such mercy is in increasingly short supply because of sanctions
imposed by the Chinese government against non-governmental
organizations, charities, church organizations and individual Chinese
citizens aimed at stemming the flow of refugees across the North
Korean border into China. Many often find themselves subjected to
extortion for protection from the police. Posters in Yanji and Tumen
even offer bounties to those who inform on activists and their
refugees. The refugees are often used as low-paid or unpaid labor and
women and children are commonly forced into debt bondage and/or
trafficked as sexual slaves.
"In violation of its obligations under Article 33 of the U.N.
Convention on Refugees, the Chinese government refuses to grant those
fleeing North Korea refugee status and instead cooperates with the
North Korean security authorities in forced repatriation of these
people. Although China claims these people are economic migrants and
thus undeserving of the status of refugees, the North Korean penal
code lists defection or attempted defection as a capital crime. Thus,
any alleged contact with foreigners makes a North Korean a traitor to
the regime and leads almost inevitably to a long and harsh prison term
or summary execution.
"I recently heard about one prisoner camp in particular, Camp No. 22,
in Hoeryong County in the Northeast section of Hamgyong Province. The
existence and coordinates of this prison camp were based on testimony
from survivor-refugees in China and confirmed through satellite
photos. What little we know about Camp No. 22 is that it exists
underground near a coal mine. Based on accounts of survivors, Camp No.
22 is reputed to be one of the worst among many. At this camp,
prisoners are incarcerated not necessarily for any specific crimes but
mainly because of the sins of their relatives. At camps like these,
through a method known as "Collective Punishment", the North Korean
regime imposes near total control of any dissent within the country.
"Both the U.S. House and the Senate have passed resolutions condemning
Chinese repatriation of North Korean refugees in clear violation of
the U. N. Conventions against sending refugees back to almost certain
punishment, if not summary execution. "There is much discussion about
North Korea and security concerns regarding nuclear arms and other
weapons of mass destruction. It is an important and necessary debate
to have as we develop a strategy in coming to grips with how we should
deal with the North Korean regime. But we cannot allow the
unpredictable nature of the North Korean regime to divert us from the
need to remain focused on the refugees.
"We do know of 32 people altogether as of today who were arrested
during the past two years and who are either in detention or in the
process of being repatriated back to North Korea. Over time with
enough pressure applied to the Chinese government, I am hopeful that
these 32 brave souls may be saved, but that is not enough. There are,
as I mentioned, many others, hundreds perhaps, whose fates - much less
their names - are not know to us. It is not enough to have a few token
refugees being given safe passage to a third country while many more
are in detention or being forcibly repatriated back to North Korea. It
is time now for the Chinese authorities to give serious attention to
this human rights disaster and take affirmative steps to work with the
UNHCR and other NGO groups in developing a regularized process for
helping the refugees. We can do this immediately by setting up refugee
camps in Mongolia and other neighboring countries to begin the process
of finding safe passage to South Korea or other countries - including
the United States - willing to take these refugees.
"More importantly, we cannot in good conscience continue to ask the
hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees living in fear in China
and the millions of their family members back in North Korea to hang
on tenuously to some hope of better days to come. Keep in mind that
they have been waiting for the past 50 years. The facts clearly show
that it cannot get any worse. Which is why the answers to the
following questions must seem so obvious and so urgent to any one of
us who care about these people: 'If not now, then when? And if not us,
then who?'," Brownback said.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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