US Efforts to Welcome North Korean Refugees Woefully Inadequate
Following Congressional testimony by the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, Freedom House continues to urge the U.S. government to allow more North Korean refugees protection in the United States.
U.S. envoy Jay Lefkowitz testified yesterday before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia on the serious human rights abuses occurring in North Korea, and the administration’s response. While emphasizing the acute conditions under which most North Koreans live and stating that the U.S. has an “open door policy” for North Korean refugees, he admitted that the US has allowed in only thirty refugees to date, twelve of whom have just arrived after a four-month delay. South Korea, in contrast, has admitted more than 10,000 North Koreans.
“It is imperative that the U.S., a nation of immigrants and one that represents freedom to much of the world, allow more North Koreans to seek safe haven here,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. “While we welcome the government’s focus on human rights in North Korea, actions speak louder than words. After three years, we are still waiting to see evidence of a change in the administration’s policy on these legitimate asylum seekers,” she added.
North Korea’s population is roughly 23 million. While exact numbers of refugees are difficult to estimate due to the extreme difficulties of escape and successful passage through China, some activists claim that thousands of refugees could be delivered to safety if the U.S. would accept them. In 2004, the U.S. Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act, which guaranteed safe haven and assistance to North Korean refugees, but the law has not been fully implemented.
Refugees from North Korea are escaping one of the world’s worst regimes. The regime of Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s leader, seeks to control nearly every aspect of its’ citizens’ political, economic and private lives. Starting in the 1990s, many North Koreans began to flee their country due to a devastating famine that killed between one and two million people. Recent reports indicate that the country may well face yet another humanitarian crisis, which could lead more North Koreans to flee. The mere act of leaving North Korea is considered a crime against the state and is punishable by death.
North Korea receives the lowest possible ratings in Freedom House’s annual survey, Freedom in the World, and is the only country to have done so for each of the 35 years the survey has been in existence.
Freedom House has conducted an extensive advocacy campaign over the past two years to raise awareness of human rights abuses in North Korea. An independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, Freedom House has monitored political rights and civil liberties in North Korea since1972.
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