The Shenyang Six
from Thursday, January 04, 2007 Wall Street Journal Editorial Page:

Ban Ki Moon got off to a good start at the United Nations this week when he declined to criticize the execution of Saddam Hussein. Here's another way the new Secretary General could outshine his predecessor: Demand that Beijing live up to its international obligations to let the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees help the tens of thousands of North Korean refugees hiding in northeast China.

As a fellow Korean, Mr. Ban has special moral authority to address this little-known humanitarian crisis. A good place to start would be by making a public plea on behalf of six refugees who tried, but failed, to obtain sanctuary in the U.S. consulate in Shenyang, China, last month. The six are in jail in Shenyang, awaiting deportation under China's policy regarding the North Korean refugees it tracks down.

China's treatment of the North Koreans violates the International Convention Regarding the Status of Refugees, to which it is a party and which bars "refoulement," or the repatriation of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be in jeopardy. North Koreans who are sent home by Beijing face execution or a term in one of Kim Jong Il's prison camps, which can amount to a death sentence.

The six refugees in jail in Shenyang include two orphan boys, ages 16 and 17; a 22-year-old woman; and three women in their 40s. One of the older women is the mother of a 19-year-old who made it to safety in the U.S. consulate last year and is awaiting resettlement in the U.S. along with two orphan boys -- if China lets them leave. One of the women has relatives in Hawaii; another has family in South Korea.

The six were captured just before Christmas along with two Americans who had been sheltering them in safe houses in another city and were accompanying them to the consulate. Their rescuers -- young women who don't want their names used -- belong to Liberty in North Korea, or LINK, a U.S. non-profit dedicated to helping the refugees. LINK's director, Adrian Hong, was also arrested -- pulled out of his hotel room in Beijing and taken to a prison cell in Shenyang. The three rescuers were deported this week.

That's progress of sorts. Steve Kim, a Huntington, New York, businessman who provided funds to house and care for refugees, was tried, convicted and has been in jail in China since September 2003. Phillip Buck, a pastor from Seattle, was released in August after serving 15 months in prison for helping North Koreans.

Beyond the six jailed refugees is the larger tragedy of the tens of thousands of North Koreans in northeast China and the thousands more who may flee if famine hits North Korea this winter, as expected. The humane solution would be to allow the UNHCR to set up processing centers in China for the refugees, who could then be transferred to transit camps in neighboring countries before being resettled elsewhere.

South Korea's constitution requires it to accept escapees from the North, and North Korean asylum seekers are welcome in the U.S. under 2004 legislation. In one of his last acts as Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist introduced a bill that would authorize $10 billion for the relief and relocation of North Korean refugees. That's a good idea that other Senators could adopt.

Meanwhile, the six refugees incarcerated in Shenyang await a decision from Beijing. As he was being escorted from jail this week, Mr. Hong says he passed the cell where several of the North Koreans were being held. "There is nothing like looking in the eyes of someone who thinks they are going to die," he says. "They all had that look - like there was no hope."

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If you're reading this and want to help you can start off by copying this article to your xanga/facebook, etc., anyway to get the word out. If this story grabs enough media attention in time, it could save their lives.