*EPF510 05/10/2002
Text: Congressmen Petition Chinese Government on North Koreans
(May 9 letter concerning North Korean asylum-seekers in China) (730)

It would be "a human tragedy" and a violation of international conventions if the Chinese government were to repatriate North Koreans who recently have been detained after attempting to seek asylum at foreign diplomatic compounds inside China, according to four high-ranking members of the House International Relations Committee.

In a May 9 letter to the Chinese ambassador in Washington, D.C., the congressmen write that China, as a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, has an obligation not to repatriate people who face a well-founded fear of persecution.

The authoritarian North Korean government's treatment of its citizens who attempt to escape "remains severe and is usually fatal," the congressmen write.

"We appeal to the Government of China to allow some form of humanitarian accommodation for these people, and urge you not to contravene the treaty obligations that both of our nations share as prominent members of the international community," the letter concludes.

The four congressmen who signed the letter are Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (Republican from Illinois); Committee Ranking Member Tom Lantos (Democrat from California); East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chairman James Leach (Republican from Iowa), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Eni Faleomavaega (Democrat from American Samoa).

Over the past two months, at least 28 North Koreans fleeing famine and repression at home have made it past Chinese guards and into diplomatic compounds in Beijing. In all previous cases, foreign diplomats have granted them protection as refugees, and China has allowed the North Koreans to leave the country.

Following is the text of the letter:

(begin text)

One Hundred Seventy Congress
Congress of the United States
Committee on International Relations
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5021

May 9, 2002

His Excellency Yang Jiechi
Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

We are writing to make a humanitarian appeal on behalf of the North Koreans who recently have been detained after they attempted to seek asylum at foreign diplomatic compounds inside China. We strongly urge your Government not to forcibly return any of them to North Korea, where they would face certain danger.

Those individuals include five members of the Kim Han-mee family who were detained on or near the grounds of the Japanese Consulate in Shenyang yesterday, and three North Koreans who were detained when they attempted to enter the South Korean Embassy in Beijing on April 29th. We trust that the two North Korean individuals currently inside the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang will be allowed to transit to a third country.

We fully recognize China's right to secure its borders and the sensitivity posed by migrant issues in the northeast of your country. But those issues must be differentiated from the obligation not to repatriate people who face a well-founded fear of persecution, an obligation that both of our countries share as parties to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.

In our view, forcibly returning to North Korea any of the family members listed above would be a human tragedy and a violation of the Refugee Convention. Although North Korea's treatment of mere food migrants may have eased since the mid-1990s, its treatment of North Koreans attempting to escape to third countries remains severe and is usually fatal. Notwithstanding North Korean assurances, such returnees are usually executed or sent to camps for political prisoners. We understand that one of the women detained outside the South Korean Embassy is pregnant. We have seen the photos of the Kim family at the Japanese Consulate, where the mother is carrying her two-year-old daughter. We also understand that the Kim family has requested the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States.

We appeal to the Government of China to allow some form of humanitarian accommodation for these people, and urge you not to contravene the treaty obligations that both of our nations share as prominent members of the international community. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

HENRY J. HYDE TOM LANTOS
Chairman Ranking Member

JAMES A. LEACH ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA
Chairman, Subcommittee on Ranking Member, subcommittee on
East Asia and the Pacific East Asia and the Pacific

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents