Christians appeal to China over trial of North Korean refugee

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is appealing on behalf of a North Korean activist, Mr Yoo Sang-joon, who is facing trial in China next Monday.

Mr Yoo was arrested near the Chinese-Mongolian border and is due to stand trial in Inner Mongolia on 26 November 2007.

China has already been the setting of grave personal tragedy for Mr Yoo and his story has often been cited in highlighting the plight of North Koreans.

His wife and youngest son died in the North Korean famine. Severely weakened by the famine himself, Mr Yoo realised that the same fate was likely to befall him and his remaining son, Chul Min, if they stayed in North Korea.

Despite the high risks involved, they fled to China where they suffered much hardship. Unable to travel together, Chul Min, aged 10, attempted to escape across the Mongolian border. However, unfamiliar with the inhospitable terrain, he wandered for 26 hours and, suffering from dehydration and weakened from the famine, he tragically died before crossing the border.

Mr Yoo himself did reach South Korea and is now a South Korean citizen. However, according to CSW his sense of loss and pain has continued to cause him to endanger his own safety to alleviate the plight of those still at risk in China, especially children.

China has come under intense international criticism for refusing to accept North Koreans as refugees and returning them to face severe human rights abuses, and even death.

Although a party to the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, China refuses to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees access to North Koreans or to allow North Koreans access to asylum procedures.

Such criticisms are set to increase as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach and activists have expressed concern that the unusual speed at which Mr Yoo's trial date has come up may be attributable to China's desire to deal with the issue quickly before further international attention registers.

The broad international nature of the issues involved, alongside the concerns expressed for his welfare as a North Korean, make Mr Yoo's case an issue of international concern.

CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said "We are naturally deeply concerned for Mr Yoo. It would be abhorrent if, after suffering such a terrible tragedy with the death of his son as he tried to escape from China, the Chinese authorities would punish him for seeking to save others from a similar fate.

"We sincerely hope that China will not punish Mr Yoo for simply seeking to implement the protection which China should itself be providing under international refugee law."