NGOs praise UN office 'milestone'

Members of Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights at the Rescue Fund's Hunger Banquet at Neungla Bapsang on Nov. 6, 2014. / Courtesy of NKHR.

By David Keelaghan

Longstanding NGO the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) has welcomed the opening of the new United Nations office in Seoul tasked with monitoring human rights abuses in North Korea. Speaking to the Korea Times, the NKHR’s Michele Sonen outlined its significance.

“It’s an important milestone that the U.N. office has opened. It was a key recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry’s report released in 2014,” she said. “North Korea has to be held accountable for its crimes against humanity. That includes past and ongoing violations, of which there are many. For the political situation to improve regarding reunification, it’s really important that North Korea is held accountable.”

Deputy Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch Phil Robertson shared similar sentiments.

“The opening of the Seoul field office is a critical step forward in the campaign to end North Korea’s systematic and pervasive human rights abuses. When he wakes up in the morning, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should realize that there is now a team of dedicated professional investigators working full-time to add to the factual record that will ultimately see him and his top officials brought before an international court.”

The citizens’ alliance was established in Seoul in 1996, making it the world’s first organization devoted to improving the dire human rights situation in North Korea. As the isolated nation takes umbrage with any suggestion the treatment of its citizens is anything less than fair and proper, most of the NKHR’s work happens only when North Koreans can escape their homeland.

“A major part of our work is providing assistance for people that have escaped but have not yet reached South Korea. They are most commonly found in China. We try to introduce the refugees to a trustworthy person who will help them get out of China and to a South Korean embassy, usually in South East Asia,” said the program officer for the International Campaign and Cooperation Team of NKHR, Michele Sonen.

As she explains, the life of a North Korean refugee in China is one wracked with fear and uncertainty. A forcible return to the despotic Kim regime is but one unexpected encounter with the Chinese authorities away.

“China does not recognize them as refugees, rather as economic migrants and will repatriate them back to North Korea if they find them. If they are sent back they then receive punishment depending on their status and reasons for defecting; that could be torture, being sent to a political prison camp and in some cases, even executed.”

Bearing this in mind, the NKHR seeks to aid as many North Koreans existing in this state of limbo as it can. Of course, providing such assistance costs money, meaning the group will be holding a number of fundraising efforts over the coming months.

“Our rescue fund is a volunteer run team that raises funds to help refugees get to South Korea safely. One of our interns is part of a group called Running 4 Resettlement. They recruit runners to raise money to help rescue the refugees. The money helps pay for food, shelter, transportation and general living expenses as the North Koreans make their way from China,” said Sonen.