(As you know, the policy of forced repatriation of North Korean refugees has created an environment of violent activity in China where North Korean agents roam freely assassinating humanitarian workers trying to help the refugees, while the majority of North Korean female refugees end up being subjected to human trafficking.  Instead, China should allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to assist China in addressing this refugee problem by simply allowing them to fulfill their mission, so this violent activity could end.  As your Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai recently stated, “The Chinese government has the responsibility to protect people’s safety and property, and to curb violent activities.  That is the most important human right for the people.”

 

(Ending this policy would not only have a very positive benefit for China, but would also increase the potential for reform to come to North Korea, which is also in China's best interest.  The ascendency of Kim Jong Un to power provides China with a tremendous opportunity to encourage reform there.  The North Korean refugees, who risk their lives to flee to China, do not want to leave North Korea, but they feel they have no choice because of the conditions in their homeland.  If China were to end its forced repatriation policy and work instead with the international community to resolve this problem, it would send a strong signal to the Kim regime of their need to open to reform, which China has been encouraging for decades.) 

 

Please save the lives of the refugees by allowing them to safely be resettled in South Korea.

 

Thank you for your consideration of this request.