Dear Friends:

 

Please find attached a letter the North Korea Freedom Coalition has sent to the Laotian government on behalf of North Korean refugees detained last week in Laos.  The full text of the appeal is also reprinted below.  Please consider also sending your own appeal in your respective countries to the Laotian government as we must do all we can to ensure that these refugees are allowed safe resettlement to South Korea and other countries. 

 

Despite the illegal and inhumane repatriation policy of the PRC targeted at North Korean refugees and the brutal attempts by the DPRK to stop their citizens from fleeing, the fact is this refugee crisis will not end until conditions improve in North Korea.  Remember to join us for the International Protest to Save North Korean Refugees to be held around the world at noon on Saturday, September 22, 2012. 

 

Warm regards,

Suzanne Scholte

 

 

July 24, 2012

His Excellency Seng Soukhathivong
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
The Embassy of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to the
United States of America
2222 S Street, NW
Washington, D.C., 20008

 

Dear Ambassador Soukhathivong:

We are writing on behalf of the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) to express our grave concern and alarm over the recent arrest of twenty North Korean refugees in the Luang Namtha region of your country. The Coalition is a non-governmental, nonpartisan organization composed of over 70 organizations worldwide dedicated to promoting the freedom, human rights and dignity of the North Korean people.

 

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), twenty North Korean refugees who had crossed into Laos from China were arrested last week when the bus they were riding in mistakenly drove past a temporary checkpoint. According to the RFA article, the refugees, including a two year old girl, have been sent to the immigration detention center in Vientiane.  

We request that the Government of Laos work with the UN High Commissioner of Refugees and the government of South Korea, where these refugees immediately qualify for citizenship, to allow them safe resettlement there. We beseech you not to repatriate them back to China, where as you know, they face certain repatriation to North Korea to face certain torture, certain imprisonment, and even execution.

 

The NKFC is deeply grateful that the government of Laos has treated North Korean refugees humanely and in accordance with international law many times in the past, and we hope that you will
continue this policy.

Sincerely and Respectfully Yours,

Suzanne Scholte, Chairman          

Sin U Nam, Vice Chairman   

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Vice Chairman
Pastor Heemoon Lee, Vice Chairman   

Mariam Bell, Legislative Chairman   

Ann Buwalda, Treasurer
Sue Yoon Logan, Administrator
Henry Song, Secretary

Advisors: Hwang Jang-Yop (2003-2010),
Chuck Downs, Yoshi Yamamoto, Jane Yang

North Korea Freedom Coalition Public Members (partial listing):
American Anti-Slavery Group
ARC (Awareness Respect Compassion)
China-e Lobby
Christian Solidarity International
Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA
Citizen's Coalition for Human Rights
of Abductees & North Korean Refugees
Coalitions for America
Coalition for North Korea Women’s Rights*
Commission to Help North Korean Refugees
Committee for the Rescue of Korean War POWs
Council for Human Rights in North Korea
Defense Forum Foundation
ENoK (Emancipate North Koreans)
Exile Committee for North Korean Democracy*
Fighters for a Free North Korea*
Freedom Society of America
Free North Korea Radio*
Free the North Korean Gulag*
Genocide Watch
Helping Hands Korea
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Human Rights Coalition-USA
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Intl Korean War Memorial Foundation
Jubilee Campaign
Korean-American Freedom Fighters Movement
Korean Congress for N. Korean Human Rights
Korean Dream
Korean Freedom Council (KFC)
Korean Freedom Democracy League of America
Korean War Abductees Family Union
Leadership Council for Human Rights
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees
National Association for the Rescue of
Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea
National Council for Freedom and Democracy
NKUS (North Korean Refugees in the U.S.A.)*
NY Commission to Help N. Korean Refugees
N. American Religious Liberty Association
OneFreeKorea
Open Doors USA
PSALT NK
PSCORE*
Religious Freedom Coalition
Salvation Army, U.S.A.
Save North Korea
Schindler’s Ark
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Southern Baptist Convention, ERLC
Southern Democratic Alliance (Japan)
StandToday.org
The Israeli Jewish Comm. Against the
Gas Chambers in North Korea
ThINK (There is Hope in North Korea)
The Wilberforce Forum
United for North Korean Freedom
Women4NonViolence in Peace + Conflict
318 Partners
*organizations of North Korean defectors

Contact us at: www.nkfreedom.org
Address: North Korea Freedom Coalition
9689-C Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22031