About a week ago, I published this post, relaying Adrian Hong’s assertion that the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang, in direct contravention U.S. law, stood by and refused entry to six North Korean refugees who where just feet from the Consulate’s front gate. Shortly thereafter, the refugees, Hong and other LiNK activists were arrested by the Chinese authorities.
After I published that post, a reader supplied me with the e-mail addresses of the Stephen Wickman, the U.S. Consul General in Shenyang, and most of the Consulate’s other officials (thank you). To give Mr. Wickman the opportunity to respond, I sent him and his press aide an e-mail, a link to my post, an open opportunity to respond, and eight questions. They have chosen not to respond, so I am printing the questions that Mr. Wickman refuses to answer:
1. Do you confirm, deny, or otherwise dispute the assertions in Mr. Hong’s statement?
2. Are the actions taken by the U.S. Mission in China consistent with instructions that you gave, or would have given, if you had known the facts as you know them now?
3. Can you harmonize your Consulate’s actions with the requirements of 22 U.S.C. sec. 7843, which says that “[t]he Secretary of State shall undertake to facilitate the submission of applications [for political asylum] by citizens of [North Korea] seeking protection as refugees?”
4. Do you believe that U.S. consular facilities have received clear instructions for interpreting and complying with this provision?
5. What, if anything, is the U.S. Mission doing to secure the release or safety of the six refugees?
6. Do you know if the refugees have been sent back to North Korea, and if so, what the North Koreans have done to them? [OFK note: my latest information is that they’re still in Chinese custody.]
7. Do you believe that such a repatriation would be consistent with China’s obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention or international customary law?
8. Mr. Hong claims that he was told to transport the refugees to the UNHCR office in Beijing while standing just a few hundred feet from the gates of your Consulate in Shenyang. Do you believe that this was a reasonably safe option, given the number of Chinese police posted near the UNHCR’s compound, and UNHCR’s failure to establish offices closer to the border?
One can only hope that Mr. Wickman’s refusal to answer is not a basis for us to presume the worst about our own State Department, and its apparent contempt for basic humanitarian morality and the laws of our land. Fortunately, there is media interest in this story. They can ignore a few bloggers, but they haven’t heard the last of this story.
