By Kim Young-jin
Staff Reporter
A North Korean logger arrested last Thursday in Russia could be repatriated for having illegal documentation, the head of a Seoul-based group advocating North Korean human rights said Wednesday.
"A source in Russia told us that Vladivostok police are saying he is being detained for reasons regarding illegal documentation, perhaps an illegal passport," said Rev. Peter Jung, head of the group Justice for North Korea, during a phone interview with The Korea Times.
The 51-year-old logger, surnamed Kim, was arrested while seeking asylum from the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Vladivostok and taken to Nakhodka, the eastern coast town where it had been speculated that he would be handed over to North Korean authorities, Jung said.
He was still in Russian custody as of Wednesday afternoon, and had, according to the activist, been taken back to Vladivostok, where repatriation appeared imminent.
"I heard Tuesday (from the source) that Russian police suddenly returned him to Vladivostok because they were planning to send him to the North Korean Embassy there," Jung said.
International attention to the situation may have caused the process to be put on hold.
"But then due to attention from international NGOs and too much press interest, they decided just to hold him. They began considering what to do next and how to resolve the situation."
Jung said they may have fabricated the allegation of illegal documentation in order to justify keeping him detained.
"My guess is that they are penalizing him by detaining him and they will eventually repatriate him," he said.
"The source said that in these kinds of cases before, when North Korean defectors are arrested and the Russian police interview them and it is discovered they have illegal documentation, then they are punished according to Russian law and then repatriated," he said.
Activists here believe that if the logger is returned to North Korea, he will face harsh punishment and possible execution.
Jung said the North Korean was on his way to meet one or more U.S. consulate officials at a hotel in a bid to win asylum when the arrest occurred.
"Suddenly as Kim entered the gate he was arrested by police," Jung said, at which point he was taken to Nakhodka.
As to how the police may have been alerted about the meeting, Jung said, "We guess that Russian intelligence authorities were tapping his phone."
Human rights activists, including former North Korean defectors, gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Seoul last Friday calling on the Russian government not to hand him over to the North Koreans.
When contacted by The Korea Times, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Wednesday: "We are unable to give any comment in consideration the logger's safety."
Several attempts were made by The Korea Times to speak with a political attaché at the Russian Embassy, who was unavailable for comment.
The plan for the logger to meet with U.S. officials in Vladivostok came after a failed attempt to do so with the South Korean consulate there.
"We think that Kim originally contacted the South Korean consulate by phone and got them on the line," Jung said.
"But the Korean consulate denied the request. He changed his mind and successfully connected with the U.S. consulate."
Kim's was the third such attempt in Russia within a week. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported that two North Korean lumberjacks made it into the South Korean consulate in Vladivostok on March 9.
The news about their successful bid provided Kim with the impetus to make his move.
"Kim heard about the other two defectors entering the South Korean consulate," Jung said. "He got very brave. He got the confidence to contact the South Korean consulate.
"But he was denied, and now he is in very dangerous circumstances."
The asylum attempts bring to light the plight of North Korean workers in Russia.
It is believed that there are tens of thousands of North Korean loggers there. Jung estimates the number at some 40,000 ― with many fleeing their worksites.
In poor working conditions, such laborers work for state-owned North Korean organizations that send hard currency back to the communist country, according to the activist.
"They work every day for 15 hours. The work area is very dangerous. Big logs can roll and cause serious injury but the North Korean companies don't care," he said.
Jung estimated that 50 percent of their salary goes to the North Korean government and 35 percent to Russian and North Korean companies involved. He said the remainder is supposed to go to the workers but that sometimes the payments are not made.
He said that the effort to protect Kim should not be limited to human rights activists here.
"Not only the Korean government but NGOs all over must try to protect Kim," he said, adding that efforts are underway by rights organizations here to contact similar groups in Russia to draw up a joint petition to send to the Russian government.
With the situation remaining precarious, Jung believes that the South Korean government's role is clear.
"Kim is actually a refugee who wants to go to South Korea," he said. "South Korea's ultimate duty is to protect him."