N. Korean Dissident Yoo Sang-Joon freed

To those who responded to my request to spam e-mail the Chinese government to demand Yoo Sang Joon’s release, reach up and pat yourself on the back. You just might have saved a life.

Yoo’s wife and one child died in the Great Famine, and his remaining son, Chul Min, died of exposure trying to escape through the Mongolian desert. Not long ago, Yoo appeared to be headed for a post-mortem reunion with his family. He was under arrest by China’s fascist regime, which wanted to send him back to North Korea, where a speedy trip to the firing squad would have been one of the more favorable outcomes he could have hoped for.Instead, thanks to international pressure and a great deal of expense and effort by the Rev. Tim Peters and Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, Yoo is in South Korea. A big hat tip and many thanks to a friend for reporting this terrific news.

Yoo’s situation was especially dire because he was a Christian missionary, underground railroad conductor, and international activist. Knowing this, Yoo risked a fate worse than death for years because he knew that others — including refugees still living in holes in the ground — depended on him.

The three defectors Yoo was leading at the time of his arrest? All three were sent back to die in Kim Jong Il’s gulag:

Defector Lee Chul Jung (pseudonym, 45 years old, male) said that it was likely that he would end up in a political prison camp. He did not express his inner thoughts, but he did say that he didn’t think he would make it back alive. Kim Soon Hee (pseudonym, 33, female) came to China and was arrested by the Chinese police five times as an illegal resident. Her expression was a brave one. Park Eun Shim (pseudonym, 22, female) called me “teacher.” Her bright smile left a deep impression on me. She was someone who was sold to Qingdao, but escaped last year and had requested our help. I was in pain because she would not stop crying at the time. They were imprisoned for 45 days and were all sent back to North Korea. [Daily NK]

Of course, it would be a tad simplistic to say that the people who run the Chinese government are merely black-hearted, slave-driving hacks who smear toxins all over my little girl’s Dora dolls. The more nuanced truth is that they’re greedy, black-hearted, slave-driving hacks, and what’s more, they’re smearing toxins all over your little girl’s Dora dolls, too, and they’re also slipping them date rape drugs. North Korean women in China, by contrast, can expect to get raped with or without drugs.

None of which, by my count, has caused even one South Korean to sever his own ear or cover himself with bees in protest, but I’m really digressing now.My point is that the Chinese regime, like most totalitarian regimes, seeks to avoid the exposure of its atrocities, because that kind of thing can be unprofitable. China’s rulers can be pressured. If we can create more pressure next time, there’s a chance that we can save more lives yet.