1st N.Korean refugees in 50 years approved as refugees to US

http://ocregister.com/ocregister/new...le_1153099.php

Reasons to flee
North Korean defectors tell of kidnapping, sex slavery and imprisonment in their homeland and China.

By ROBERT JABLON
The Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - The first North Koreans allowed into this country as refugees in a half-century said Tuesday they fled starvation at home only to find brutality and slavery in neighboring China.

Several women said they were kidnapped by criminals and forced into the sex trade or marriage in China then later deported back to their hermit nation and imprisoned under brutal conditions. The defectors - two men and four women - spoke through translators at a news conference using fake names and wearing caps and sunglasses to conceal their identities because of fear of reprisals against relatives back home.

"The whole world should unite and combine to stop these atrocities," a woman who called herself Naomi said in Korean.

North Korea, which has been pursuing nuclear weapons over the objections of the U.S. government, does not have consulates or embassies in the United States.

North Korean officials have denied they commit human rights violations, despite widespread accusations of torture, public executions and other abuses. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are believed to be held in its prison camps for political reasons, according to the State Department.

A call seeking comment from the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles was not immediately returned.

The defectors, ranging in age from 20 to 36, were the first to arrive in the United States since President Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004. The U.S. has not admitted North Koreans as refugees since the end of the Korean War in the mid-1950s.

The conference was arranged by the Korean Church Coalition, a national group of congregations that is calling for an end to human rights abuses in North Korea and urging the U.S. government to accept a wave of refugees.

"Please find freedom for people in North Korea. That is the wish for all of us here," said a refugee identified as Chan-Mi Shin.

It would obviously cost less to meet the social adjustment requirements of North Koreans in South Korea than here in the United States. Using the same amount of money Americans could help more refugees there than here.