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PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05040031.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
TWO SURVIVORS FROM NORTH KOREAN PRISON CAMPS TELL OF THE ABUSE THEY SUFFERED WHILE IMPRISONED
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
SURREY, ENGLAND (ANS) -- Two Christian survivors of North Korean prison camps told of the unspeakable abuse they suffered while imprisoned.
They spoke at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and at the European Union (EU).
According to a news release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a Christian human rights organization, Kim Tae Jin, 49, initially defected to China in 1986 to escape North Korea.
During the 16 months Jin spent in China he became a Christian, a decision that cost him dearly in North Korea when he was sent back there by the Chinese authorities.
North Korean authorities discovered a Bible in Jin’s belongings and he was subsequently imprisoned without trial in Yodok Political Prison Camp. There he was tortured in a variety of ways that included being beaten with burning wood. He was forced to do hard labor with very little food, and beaten unconscious when he became too weak to carry out his tasks.
Jin suffered such severe torture in the eight months following his return that he swallowed a nail, preferring an operation to staying in his prison cell.
He survived the imprisonment and eventually defected again, arriving in South Korea in June 2001, where he is involved in ministry as well as studying at a seminary.
Jin said in the news release, “In a political prison camp in North Korea, one must forget that he .... is a human being. I had to do many things to survive. I carefully watched a dog so that I could steal its food. I ate snakes, frogs, rats and anything that could be a source of nutrition.”
He added, “My prayer is that the situation in North Korea will be improved by your prayers, partnership and advocacy in both national and international arenas. I want to thank CSW for giving us this opportunity to speak.”
Kim Young Soon, 67, was arrested by the North Korean security forces after her husband disappeared. Along with her four children, CSW reported that she was also imprisoned in Yodok Political Prison Camp, “solely as a punishment for their association with him.”
She spent eight years in the prison camp, from 1970-1978, enduring brutal treatment that included forced labor, regular physical and verbal abuse, ideological indoctrination and severe degradation. She described the camp as “a living hell where prisoners were treated as less than animals.”
Soon’s youngest son perished in the camp, along with her mother and father who were also there. Her second son was executed after an unsuccessful attempt to escape from North Korea, and her eldest son became disabled as a result of his imprisonment. She has never seen her husband since his disappearance.
Soon eventually fled North Korea and arrived in South Korea in Nov. 2003, CSW reported. She is now a member of a human rights agency representing survivors of the political prison camps.
“I had to go through the tremendous pain of losing family members, which was much more painful than being killed myself,” Soon said. “The pain and suffering I have described is still shared by many people in North Korea, even today.”
According to CSW, there are estimated to be more than 100,000 prisoners incarcerated in North Korean prison camps.
At the UN parallel meeting, along with hearing from the prison camp survivors, the first ever video footage of public executions in North Korea was shown. In addition, a list of more than 600 individuals who have disappeared was revealed.
Stuart Windsor, CSW’s National Director, said in the news release, “It is vital the international community hears the truth about conditions inside the prison camps of North Korea. These two survivors need to be heard by the world as they share the horrors of the conditions they endured. The UNCHR, the FCO and the EU must do all they can to ensure the end of these political prison camps and all the human suffering that happens in them. We now have unprecedented filmed evidence of what defectors have been telling us for years about the use of public executions, which adds further impetus to the urgent need to address the human rights situation in North Korea.”
For more information visit www.csw.org.uk
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.
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