Letter to China’s leader Xi Jinping on Save North Korean Refugees Day

His Excellency Xi Jinping

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

People’s Republic of China

c/o His Excellency Zheng Zeguang

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China

24 September 2021

Your Excellency,

On 24 September 1982, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. By signing this agreement, the PRC agreed to share international concerns and protocols for refugees. As you know, the Korean family remains divided and those living under the Kim Jong Un regime in the North suffer unspeakable atrocities and crimes against humanity leading many to flee the country and become refugees. In February 2014, the United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK (COI) concluded that: “The gravity, scale and nature of these violations [under the Kim regime] reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”

We appeal to you as China’s leader with this specific request: please provide safe passage to refugees coming into China from North Korea and cease returning them to North Korea. Those returned under your current policies face certain torture, certain imprisonment and even public execution.

We respect China’s concerns about refugees crossing its border when fleeing persecution and deprivation in North Korea, and we ask that your government resolve this refugee crisis in a way that fulfils the goals of the Convention and Protocol. Unlike any other refugee crisis in the world, North Korean refugees have a place to go for immediate resettlement as citizens of South Korea under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. In addition to South Korea, other countries have willingly resettled these refugees.

North Korean refugees need not be a burden and concern for China as the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHRC) will help China quickly and safely resettle these refugees. We believe that by working together with the international community, and the UNHCR, China can resolve this crisis quickly, safely, and in accordance with international law.

We look forward to your response to our request, and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Mervyn Thomas CMG

Founder President