North Korea Murders Five Refugees Inside Chinese Territory
Five North Koreans were shot dead and two others wounded by North Korean border guards on the Chinese side of the border when they tried to flee the Stalinist country, a source said Sunday. The high-level source in Changbai in the Chinese province of Jilin said the seven had left Hyesan, Yanggang Province and walked across the frozen Apnok (or Yalu) River and reached the Chinese side on Dec. 14. But five of them died instantly under intensive gunfire by North Korean border guards who had run after them and the two others were wounded and taken to the North.
AFP adds details that do not appear in the English language version of the story:
It said border guards chased them and opened fire on the Chinese side. They dragged the bodies and the wounded back across the border with the acquiescence of Chinese authorities. Chosun Ilbo said it was the first time the North’s guards had shot at refugees who had already crossed the frontier. It said Kim Jong-Un, son and heir apparent to leader Kim Jong-Il, has ordered soldiers to shoot anyone who tries to cross the border without permission. [….]
Open Radio for North Korea, which broadcasts into the North, said Kim Jong-Un on January 3 called for a crackdown on North Korean escapees living in China. The directive was in response to an official complaint from Chinese security authorities that the refugees are a burden on security, the radio quoted an informed source as saying. Kim Jong-Un has denounced the refugees for undermining the communist state’s ideological foundations, it added.
China is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
President Bush removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008.
It’s stories like these that have brought me to the conclusion that violent resistance against these regimes is not only justified, but morally compelled.
Hat tip: James.