Page 137 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

In August 2003, I attempted to rescue seven defectors, but was
detained in Shanghai by the Chinese Public Security Bureau.
A few months before, Mr. Hiroshi Kato, who was working
to rescue North Korean defectors, was detained in China,
and deported to Japan a week later. In December of the same
year, Takayuki Noguchi, who was guiding North Korean
defectors to Southeast Asia, was detained, and held for several
months. The detention of these Japanese rescuers has made it
impossible for Japanese rescuers to act directly in China.

Many of the North Korean women who have defected have
been victims of human trafficking in China. Even if they are
sold as wives to Chinese nationals, they are not given legal
status as wives, but classified as smugglers, and their children
are left without Chinese citizenship and therefore unable
to go to school. If the trafficked North Korean women are
discovered by the Chinese Public Security Bureau, they will be
deported to North Korea where they and their families may be
put to death.

Chinese Government Responsibility for Repatriating Defectors

The change of government in East Germany and reunification
with West Germany was greatly influenced by the “Pan-
European Picnic Plan” promoted in Hungary. At the time,
many of the countries surrounding East Germany were
socialist countries that shared much in common with East
Germany. Nevertheless, these countries not only did not
deport people trying to leave East Germany, but they also
protected them and opened their borders to help them move

136 Section II : Human Rights, Abductees, Forced Repatriation of Refugees and the Regional Implications