URGENT ACTION REQUESTED: South Korea deported two North Korean Escapees to North Korea on Thursday 7

12 November 2019

URGENT ACTION REQUESTED: South Korea deported two North Korean Escapees to North Korea on Thursday 7 November

Re 1: Under the South Korean Constitution, North Korean refugees/citizens who flee to South Korea automatically become South Korean citizens: https://bit.ly/2qGG5xf. Re 2: Even if they were criminals or murders, they could still be protected from refoulement to a country where they would be tortured or executed, since South Korea is a signatory country (9 January 1995) to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

We, the British-North Korean Community, are writing to urge you to support two North Korean men who are facing extradition from South Korea back to North Korea (DPRK). This has exceptionally negative connotations for the 34,000 North Korean refugees in South Korea.

We fled from the DPRK because Kim Jung-un’s regime did not recognise our freedom of expression, speech, faith, opportunity, dignity and the security of life and food. Our lives were in the hands of the communist dictatorial regime. We endured imprisonment, torture, execution, persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, forced abortion, rape, and starvation, information blockade in North Korea, as well as enslavement and human trafficking in China.

These two deported men were also asking to be free from North Korea in South Korea, but are now facing extradition which will potentially lead to execution or life imprisonment in a prison camp in North Korea.

After their boat was seized by the South Korean Navy on Saturday, 2nd November, the two fishermen reportedly requested resettlement in South Korea. After a limited investigation which lasted for only three days, the government of South Korea sent the two back to North Korea, saying that its investigators had determined that the men had killed 16 of their crewmates prior to escaping. Ministry of Unification spokesman Lee Sang-min stated that the two fishermen were “heinous criminals” who did not deserve recognition as refugees under applicable international law.

There is no substantial evidence that these fishermen committed the crimes they are accused of. We are yet to see any legal procedures prior to their deportation. This is in direct conflict with the rule go law and possibly conflictual with the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. A convention South Korea is a signatory of (9 January 1995).

Since the South Korean Constitution allows North Korean people to become South Korean nationals under One Korean peninsula conditions, every North Korean man, woman and child deserve the protection of South Korea’s legal system. This deportation of the two North Korean fishermen therefore should have not happened. It raises major security concerns for all North Korean refugees living in South Korea. If this case lays the basis for a future extradition agreement between North and South Korea, all North Korean refugees would be vulnerable to repatriation. The North Korean regime regards all North Korean escapees as ‘human scum’ and ‘betrayers of a socialist nation’, and thereby criminals. Any forced extradition, regardless of sex, age, gender and supposed crimes will be met with the same inhumane treatment. This is a dangerous precedent with dire consequences for North Korean refugees in South Korea. We are asking you to urgently raise this matter with the South Korean Foreign Office or Ambassadors for the protection of North Korean refugees. We gratefully request the following from the government of South Korea: 1. Make a press statement on this issue and recognise the breach of both domestic laws and international human rights treaty of the United Nations Convention against Torture ratified by South Korea

2. Immediately undertake an investigation and disclose the facts of the case to both the South and North Koreans in South Korea and around the world

3. Give assurances that this kind of deportation will not happen again

4. Provide security assurance (such as create a specific norm/treaty) for the remaining North Korean refugees in Seoul

5. Under South Korea’s constitutional promise North Korean citizens automatically to become South Korean nationals, and should have the protection of South Korea’s legal system

6. Any North Koreans arriving in the South in future must be regarded as Korean nationals and be provided with all legal provisions

We are pleased that our petition to you is supported by thousands of individuals, including politicians, professors, activists, and human rights organisations from across the world. We include a few of the notable signatories below.

We look forward to your response and thank you for your support. Yours sincerely, British-North Korean Community

https://bit.ly/2pkwr2Y Lord Alton of Liverpool, Independent Crossbench Peer in the UK David Campanale, Parliamentary Candidate for Liberal Democrats Party in the UK Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader at CSW and Deputy Chair of the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission Ann Buwalda, Executive Director, Jubilee Campaign USA Inc Hon. David Kilgour, Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific 2002-3 Democratic Leadership Institute (DLI) UK Stepping Stones UK Becky James, Bristol Against Forced Organ Harvesting (BAFOH) UK Aileen Calverley, Hong Kong Watch Trustee UK Scott Morgan, President, Red Eagle Enterprises USA Faith J.H. McDonnell, Director, International Religious Liberty Program, Institute on Religion and Democracy USA Matthew Behum, Ministry Director, Trinitarian International Solidarity (S,I,T) USA Jubilee Campaign USA ST. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church, Hanover, MD USA Christian Freedom International USA Institute on Religion and Democracy, Washington, DC Boat People SOS USA Center for Pluralism, Washington, DC ChinaAid USA Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam USA Vietnamese Women for Human Rights (VNWHR) Vietnam Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) 전환기정의워킹그룹 South Korea Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) | 북한인권시민연합 South Korea Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) | 북한인권위원회(미국) USA Improving North Korean Human Rights Center (INKHR) |북한인권증진센터 South Korea Justice For North Korea (JFNK) | 북한정의연대 South Korea Korean War Abductees’ Family Union (KWAFU) | 6.25 전쟁납북인사가족협의회 South Korea Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea | 한반도 인권과 통일을 위한 변호사모임 South Korea Network for North Korean Human Rights and Democracy (NKnet) | 북한민주화네트워크 South Korea NK Watch |엔케이워치 South Korea No Chain for North Korea | 노체인 South Korea North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC) | 북한전략센터 South Korea Now Action & Unity for Human Rights (NAUH) | 나우South Korea Open North Korea (ONK) | 열린북한 South Korea People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE) | 성공적인 통일을 만들어가는 사람들 South Korea South and North Development (SAND) | 샌드연구소 South Korea Unification Academy | 통일아카데미 South Korea Unification Media Group (UMG) | 국민통일방송 South Korea Unification Strategy Institution | (USI)통일전략연구소 South Korea 1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association | 1969 년 KAL 기 납치피해가족회 South Korea Petition Against the Deportation of North Korean Escapees (탈북민 강제추방 반대 청원서): Statement of South Korea’s Deportation two North Korean Escapees submitted by the British-North Korean Community