ID :
44727
Sun, 02/08/2009 - 19:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/44727
The shortlink copeid
N.K. defector gets S. Korean passport years after defection to U.S.
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean defector received a South Korean
passport five years after seeking asylum in the U.S. citing political persecution
in South Korea.
Ma Young-ae told Yonhap News Agency that she received the 10-year electronic
passport at the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles Wednesday.
"I filed an application for the passport with the consulate general in January
and went to the consulate to receive the passport on the 3rd (of this month),"
she said.
The 53-year-old former member of an artistic troupe in North Korea defected to
South Korea in 2000, but again sought political asylum in the U.S., where she
visited in 2004, as a member of a performance troupe.
Ma said that at the time she had been persecuted by the then Roh Moo-hyun
government for her speeches denouncing North Korea's human rights conditions.
The liberal Roh administration actively sought rapprochement with the North,
providing massive food and fertilizer aid and suppressing any domestic criticism
of Pyongyang for fear of provoking the communist neighbor.
With the launch of the conservative Lee Myung-bak government early last year,
South Korea's policy toward Pyongyang took a decided turn as Lee demanded the
North take steps to dismantle its nuclear program in return for Seoul's aid. The
North promptly cut all ties with the South.
Ma said she filed for the passport with the hope that the Lee government would
approve her application. In June 2005, a request she submitted with the South
Korean embassy here to extend her one-year passport was denied.
"I wrote a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and National
Intelligence Director Kim Sung-ho in December to explain what I had experienced
and to ask for recovery of my honor through the issuance of the passport," she
said. "I am very glad to see the passport issued as my heart has been filled with
so much hurt these past years."
She said she will finish studying theology in the U.S. before returning to South
Korea to work as a pastor.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean defector received a South Korean
passport five years after seeking asylum in the U.S. citing political persecution
in South Korea.
Ma Young-ae told Yonhap News Agency that she received the 10-year electronic
passport at the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles Wednesday.
"I filed an application for the passport with the consulate general in January
and went to the consulate to receive the passport on the 3rd (of this month),"
she said.
The 53-year-old former member of an artistic troupe in North Korea defected to
South Korea in 2000, but again sought political asylum in the U.S., where she
visited in 2004, as a member of a performance troupe.
Ma said that at the time she had been persecuted by the then Roh Moo-hyun
government for her speeches denouncing North Korea's human rights conditions.
The liberal Roh administration actively sought rapprochement with the North,
providing massive food and fertilizer aid and suppressing any domestic criticism
of Pyongyang for fear of provoking the communist neighbor.
With the launch of the conservative Lee Myung-bak government early last year,
South Korea's policy toward Pyongyang took a decided turn as Lee demanded the
North take steps to dismantle its nuclear program in return for Seoul's aid. The
North promptly cut all ties with the South.
Ma said she filed for the passport with the hope that the Lee government would
approve her application. In June 2005, a request she submitted with the South
Korean embassy here to extend her one-year passport was denied.
"I wrote a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and National
Intelligence Director Kim Sung-ho in December to explain what I had experienced
and to ask for recovery of my honor through the issuance of the passport," she
said. "I am very glad to see the passport issued as my heart has been filled with
so much hurt these past years."
She said she will finish studying theology in the U.S. before returning to South
Korea to work as a pastor.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
