two South Korean Christian aid workers after receiving "ransom" payments, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, June 14.
There was no immediate reaction from the South Korean embassy in Laos, but aid group Helping Hands Korea confirmed the release to BosNewsLife. The refugees and aidworkers arrested May 31, were released into the hands of South Korean embassy staff on Saturday, June 10. Their latest whereabouts were not immediately clear.
The release was expected to come as a boost for Christian human rights groups who had been campaigning for their release amid fears they would be send to North Korea where they could face execution or imprisonment and torture.
"If Laos chooses to surrender the escapees to the North Korean embassy, they will almost certainly face either a long imprisonment in the Gulag or a death sentence," Washington-based International Christian Concern (ICC) said earlier in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife.
COMMUNIST COUNTRY
Like North Korea, Laos is a Communist-run country although it has been under pressure to become a more open society since 1997, when it joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a political and economic organization of countries located in Southeast Asia.
ICC identified the refugees held at the Immigration Detention Center in Pang Mong in Luan Brabang Province of Laos as Mr. Cha Song-chol, 53, Ms. Cheon Yong-kum, 58, Mr. Cha Kwang-su, 25, Ms. Kim Kyong-suk, 71, Ms. Chu Hi-ok, 40, Ms. Yim Jong-suk, 36, Ms. Shim Yong-kum, 35, Ms. Park Yong-nan, 26, Ms. Jeon Song-hi, 26 and Ms. Kim Jong-ae, 35. The South Koreans helping the North Koreans to escape were named as men Kim Hee-tae and Shin Sang Hwa.
Aid group Helping Hands Korea reportedly paid a ransom of US 500 per head for eight of the refugees while another activist allegedly ransomed the other two. In return, Lao officials issued a certificate to each refugee on June 2, giving them seven days to report to the South Korean embassy in the capital, Vientiane.
POLICE DETENTION
On June 3, however, police in the neighboring province of Luang Prabang apparently re-arrested the 10 and held them in an immigration detention center in Pang Mong township. Local police reportedly argued that the refugees should be turned over to the North Korean embassy in Vientiane.
After days of what observers described as “tense negotiations” apparently with a wide range of non-governmental organizations, the Lao government eventually allowed South Korean embassy staff to collect the refugees from Pang Mong.
It comes at a time when North Koreans fleeing "hunger and oppression" are increasingly making the risky journey through China to Laos, with the aim of entering Thailand and seeking political asylum there, reported Radio Free Asia. "If they can make it to Thailand, they are safe," Thailand-based missionary Jun-hwan Kim said in a recent interview.
IMMIGRATION CAMP
"If they are caught in Laos or Burma, they are sent to China. But if they are caught in Thailand, they are sent to the immigration camp,” added Kim, whose name RFA changed to protect his identity.
Conservative estimates by international non-governmental groups put the number of North Korean defectors in hiding in China in the tens of thousands, while others say hundreds of thousands may be more accurate.
China regards North Koreans refugees as economic migrants, whom it repatriates under an agreement with the government in Pyongyang, despite expected persecution.
PRISON CAMPS
Observers say there are at least 200,000 people imprisoned in North Korea’s notorious prison camps. Christian rights groups Open Doors has put North Korea on top of its World Watch List of 50 countries with severe persecution of Christians.
Analysts say especially Christian believers often suffer as North Korea’s Stalinist system is based on total devotion of the individual to an ideology promoted by the late leader Kim Il Sung and his successor and son, Kim Jong Il, observers who recently visited the country said.
The ideology largely resembles a religion or cult, and refugees’ accounts say those who oppose it are dealt with severely, often ending up in prison camps. Despite the risks there are believed to be likely at least tens of thousands of practicing Christians. North Korean government officials have denied human rights abuses and have accused the United States and other countries of spreading "lies" and "propaganda." (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Laos and Thailand).
