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/begin my translationForeigners Planning a Human Right Protest in N. KoreaVollertsen stated in public, "...have conferred with visitors attending Arirang Festival, ...am sure of it happening." [2005-10-14 15:49] Dr. Vollertsen protesting (Chinese) repatriation of N. Korean defectors back to N. Korea, in front of Chinese Embassy (in Seoul) on (Oct.) 14th.   Norbert Vollertsen(age:42), a German doctor and a N. Korean human right activist, announced, "We planned to stage the first-ever human right protest inside N. Korea carried by foreigners visiting (N. Korea) for attending Arirang Festival," while he was attending a rally for urging N. Korean human right, held at the auditorium in the...

Vollertsen's take on the situation The German activist/doctor Norbert Vollertsen has sent round an email to journalists. I am copying an excerpt below without editing or altering it in any way: "-Out of my own experience in the desaster area I know that the nearby hospitals in Sinuiju and Ryongchon are in a desperate situation : there is no medicine, no bandage material, sometimes even no soap and running water - The North Korean doctors cannot give any sophisticated medical assistance for burnt victims - so what they are usually doing, sometimes even without desinfection, narcotics and with a simply...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third in a week-long series of excerpts from Rogue State: How a Nuclear North Korea Threatens America by William C. Triplett, which as released Monday. The first installment of this series can be read here and the second here.While the Kim family and its supporters live like royalty, the bulk of the North Korean population lives like serfs. Survival depends on your rank and circumstances. North Korea has the most rigid class system in the world. We see this most clearly in public health. At the top is Ward 2 of the Ponghwa Clinic in...

Vollertsen Makes Scene at Assembly Hearing by Kwon Dae-yeol (dykwon@chosun.com) The German human rights activist Norbert Vollertsen walked out of a National Assembly hearing Tuesday after a lawmaker from the new party started shouting at one of Vollertsen's fellow witnesses. The hearing was part of an audit of the National Police Agency, and focused on the violence inflicted by North Korean reporters against Vollertsen and rightist activists at the Daegu Universiade games, as well as an Aug. 30 attack by about 50 leftist activists against a retired military official, Seo Jeong-kap, outside the Chosun Ilbo headquarters. Vollertsen and Seo were...

Title: Anti-North Korea protest sparks Scuffles (Started by North Korean reporters) at World Student Games in S. Korea TAEGU, S. KOREA: Scuffles broke out at the World Student Games in South Korea Sunday as a group of North Koreans broke up a peaceful (anti-Kim Jong-il) protest outside the press center here. About 100 riot police and another 40 police officers moved in as four members of the North Korean delegation charged about a dozen protesters demonstrating against Pyongyang’s communist regime. Norbert Vollertsen, a German activist who had appeared at the demonstration wearing a neck brace and supported by crutches, collapsed...

Activists Accuse S. Korea of Covering Up N. Korean Atrocities Christine Elliott Washington 16 May 2003, 20:31 UTC Listen to Christine Elliot's report (RealAudio) Elliott report - Download 457k (RealAudio) After meeting with President Bush on Wednesday, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said the two would work closely to solve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. But some activists are upset about what the leaders did not say. They are threatening legal action against the South for preventing defectors from exposing human rights violations in the North. One activist who spent time as a doctor in North Korea says...

May 14, 2003 Sources: N.Korean Defectors Smuggled Out of China By REUTERS Filed at 6:42 a.m. ET BEIJING (Reuters) - Several North Korean military defectors have fled their country and sought or been granted asylum in the West or in South Korea, independent sources said on Wednesday. Three sources told Reuters the defectors fled through China and traveled by plane, train or road on false identification papers to Southeast Asia in recent months. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no knowledge of the defections, which could prove embarrassing for Beijing as it tries to facilitate negotiations between Washington and...

/start my translation German Human Right Activist Vollertsen: "Ready For A Massive Defection of High Ranking N. Korean Figures" Norbert Vollertsen(age 45: a doctor), a German human right activist, who has been actively helping N. Korean escapees confirmed on 6th (of May, 2003) that 20 high ranking N. Korean figures, including a N. Korean nuclear physicist Dr. Kyoung Won-Ha, did defect and that some of them are now staying in Washington D.C., U.S.A.. However, he refused to confirm whether Dr. Kyoung Won-Ha, known as the father of N. Korean nuclear development, himself is staying in Washington D.C.. Mr. Vollertsen is...