[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CHINA'S UTTER DISREGARD FOR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I submit an AFP article detailing a tragic 
story which illustrates the Chinese government's callousness and utter 
disregard for basic human rights.
  AFP reports that China repatriated an 81-year old former South Korean 
prisoner of war who fled North Korea literally decades after first 
being captured.
  China regularly repatriates North Korean refugees, in violation of 
their international obligations oftentimes sending these individuals 
back to certain punishment and possible death. The Chinese government 
simply doesn't care.

               China Sends S. Korean POW Back to N. Korea

       Seoul.--China has repatriated an 81-year-old former South 
     Korean prisoner of war who had fled North Korea decades after 
     being captured, a newspaper report and an activist said 
     Tuesday.
       Dong-A Ilbo quoted an unidentified government official as 
     saying the man surnamed Jung was sent back despite intensive 
     diplomatic efforts by Seoul to bring him to the South.
       A foreign ministry spokeswoman said she had no information.
       ``The government made tremendous diplomatic efforts but he 
     was eventually sent back to the North,'' the source was 
     quoted as saying.
       South Korea had contacted Chinese diplomatic authorities 
     more than 50 times since Jung's arrest, the daily said.
       Choi Sung-Yong, an activist who campaigns for the return of 
     South Korean abductees, said Jung was forcibly returned to 
     the North in September last year, about a month after being 
     arrested in China where he was hiding.
       He said Jung was arrested eight days after he fled the 
     North with the help of South Korean activists.
       China repatriates escapees from North Korea as illegal 
     immigrants even though they can face harsh punishment back 
     home.
       By Seoul's official account 494 South Koreans, mostly 
     fishermen, were seized in the Cold War decades following the 
     war. Seoul also says more than 500 prisoners of war were 
     never sent home after the Korean War armistice was signed on 
     July 27, 1953.
       North Korea denies holding any southerners against their 
     will, even though some have managed to escape from the 
     hunger-stricken country.

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