Urgent action

“I can almost hear my baby calling my name. I can see my baby in that cold cell, crying out for his father. I can’t just stand by doing nothing.”

On Saturday 4 November, Lee’s wife and their four-year-old son were arrested in China, having risked their lives fleeing across across the North Korean border. They now face being sent back (along with eight others caught up in the same raid).

Their lives are already in grave danger if they return but what makes it much worse is that at least some members of the group are Christians. This means they’re likely to face execution, or being sent to a prison camp that amounts to a death sentence. 

Time is running out. Send a message to Boris Johnson, asking him to urge Chinese authorities not to send them back. Below is a template letter that you can use. 

Send a letter to: Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

Or send an email to: fcocorrespondence@fco.gov.uk

Dear Foreign Secretary 

I am writing to raise the case of ten North Korean defectors arrested in Shenyang, northeast China on 4 November, after police raided a house where they were sheltering. The alarm was raised by ‘Lee’, a North Korean man who escaped in 2015 and whose wife and four-year-old son are among those captured and currently facing being repatriated to North Korea. 

At least four members of the group are Christians, which means that they could face execution if returned. This violates the international humanitarian principle of 'non-refoulement'. Even if they are not actually executed, the conditions of torture and abuse in North Korean detention centres and prison camps are so severe that imprisonment amounts to a death sentence. 

In 2014, The UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea found that “the gravity, scale and nature” of human rights violations in North Korea “reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”

I urge you to appeal to China to show humanity and exercise responsibility by allowing these and all other North Korean refugees safe passage to South Korea or a third country. Unlike any refugee crisis in the world today, the North Korean refugees have a place to go for immediate resettlement as they are citizens of South Korea, under Articles 2 and 3 of the Republic of Korea Constitution. Furthermore, the United States as well as other countries have shown a willingness to accept these refugees for resettlement. 

I strongly urge you to take up the case of Lee’s family and all members of the group. Lee’s words serve as a reminder that, behind these international disputes are real people suffering: “I can almost hear my baby calling my name. I can see my baby in that cold cell, crying out for his father. I can’t just stand by doing nothing…Please help us. Save my family from repatriation.”

Yours sincerely