Hyde asks China to intervene in N. Korean detention case

Asian Political News, June 3, 2002

WASHINGTON, May 30 Kyodo

Congressman Henry Hyde, Chair of the House International Relations Committee, on Thursday appealed to China to intervene and help six North Koreans detained by China on the Laos-Yunnan border on humanitarian grounds.

Hyde, a Republican from Illinois, said the group faced a ''well-founded fear of persecution and an imminent threat to their lives,'' in the letter to Chinese Ambassador to the United States Yang Jiechi. It was also signed by House members Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and a ranking member of the committee, and Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and committee vice chairman.

''We appeal to...the People's Republic of China to allow some form of accommodation for these people,'' Hyde said in the letter. ''The world is watching.''

''We have learned that Chinese police officials, near the border with Laos in Yunnan Province in southern China, took custody at some time (between Friday and Sunday) a group of six North Korean refugees who were attempting a border crossing,'' Hyde said.

The letter said the group is being transported to northern China for forced repatriation to North Korea.

It also said that the group includes a 30-month-old boy, Lee Song Yong, whose mother, Park Sun Hi, a former North Korean defector, is waiting anxiously for his arrival in Seoul.

The letter thanked China for its recent decision to allow five members of a North Korean family to be released from Chinese police custody in Shenyang to travel to South Korea.

The five North Koreans -- a couple, their 2-year-old daughter, the man's mother and his younger brother -- were seized by armed Chinese police officers May 8 at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China.

The five arrived in South Korea via Manila last Thursday.

''We are deeply appreciative to both the Chinese government and people in this instance,'' it said.

''Such a decision reflects not only concern for the welfare of this family but demonstrates a commitment to meeting international treaty obligations not to repatriate people who face a well-founded fear of persecution,'' the letter added.

Previously, Hyde had joined other House and Senate members in appealing to China for help with the five North Koreans who were detained in Shenyang.

Since March, Beijing has allowed 38 North Koreans who sought asylum at western diplomatic missions in China to leave for South Korea.