State Dept. pledges to help N. Korean refugees resettle in U.S.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States pledged Thursday to make
efforts to improve human rights conditions in North Korea and help North Korean
defectors settle in the U.S.
"The United States cares deeply about the plight of North Koreans who flee their
homeland and will continue to work with international organizations and foreign
governments to ensure their protection, including through resettlement in the
United States," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement
released to mark "North Korea Freedom Week" sponsored by the Defense Forum
Foundation and several other human rights groups based in Washington.
The U.S. has taken about 70 North Korean refugees since the North Korean Human
Rights Act was enacted years ago to help promote democracy in North Korea.
Most North Korean defectors cross the border with China to seek shelter, mostly
in South Korea, which has received more than 15,000 North Korean defectors since
the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
"This week is North Korea Freedom Week, a time to welcome refugees from North
Korea who are gathering in Washington to share their stories and advocate on
behalf of their friends and families still living there," Wood said. "These brave
souls help us all remember the importance of improving the human rights situation
of the North Korean people."
Wood denounced North Korea for continuing to "restrict religious and political
freedom, control information and its citizens' freedom of movement, exert
widespread social controls, and allow trafficking in women and girls."
The statement, however, stopped short of raising the issue of China's
repatriation of North Korean refugees under a controversial agreement with North
Korea. Those deported face persecution.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, sees North Korean defectors as
economic immigrants rather than refugees.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in February that human rights
violations should not serve as a hurdle to improvements in relations with China,
triggering concerns that the Obama may follow his predecessor, George W. Bush, in
circumventing the sensitive rights issue in order not to provoke China and North
Korea, key players in the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear
ambitions.
In his final report to wrap up his four years of tenure as the U.S. special envoy
for human rights in North Korea, Jay Lefkowitz urged in January that the Obama
administration emphasize human rights in the multilateral nuclear talks and
proposed that the U.S. and its allies link any aid with human rights
improvements.
In an annual human rights report issued in February, the U.S. State Department
expressed concerns about the human trafficking and repatriation of North Korean
refugees.
"There continued to be reports of severe punishment of some repatriated
refugees," the report said. "There were widespread reports of trafficking in
women and girls among refugees and workers crossing the border into China."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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