Friday, November 17, 2017

CHINA: North Koreans at Risk of Forcible Return - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International, USA, Nov 15, 2017.

Lee Su-jung (name being used in China, aged 24) and her son (aged 4) are currently in detention in Shenyang, China, along with 8 other North Koreans. If forcibly returned, they are at risk of persecution or other serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, torture or other ill-treatment and possibly execution. 

Lee Su-jung arrived in China from Hoeryeong, a city near the northeastern border of North Korea on 17 October with her son. They were joined by 8 other North Koreans upon arrival. The group of 10, of which seven were women or girls, travelled with a broker to the city of Shenyang. Lee Su-jung maintained contact while in China with Lee Tae-won, her husband in South Korea by mobile phone. 

Early in the evening of 4 November, Lee Tae-won was talking to his wife on the phone, but the conversation was interrupted, and he heard what he thought might be the detention of Lee Su-jung and their child by the police. Lee Tae-won, who left North Korea in 2015 and now lives with his mother and brother in South Korea, has not been able to contact her since. Through other intermediaries, he received confirmation on 12 November that his wife and son were detained in the Santaizi Detention Centre in Shenyang. 

Please take action before Dec. 27 2017