At a press conference held Sept. 21 at the consulate, Mr. Young Kook Park, a Korean living in California, spoke of the latest potential deportee, who was arrested on Sept. 6 in Seoul and almost immediately ticketed for deportation.
“The detainee, Mr. Jin Jingzhe, also known as Kim Jung-Chul, is in fact, by law, an ethnic Korean, because his grandfather is Korean," Park said. "Mr. Kim Jung-chul is entitled to claim his Korean nationality, and has planned to do so.”
Park added, “I would also urge the South Korean government to protect human rights and freedom, to immediately halt all deportations of Falun Gong practitioners to China, and take measures to grant them asylum.
“South Korea is a great nation. As a Korean, I have been very proud about the democracy and freedom there. This really… saddens my heart.”
According to the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) a practitioner who had been detained previous to Mr. Jin’s arrest, Mr. Shen Xianzhi, is also at risk for imminent deportation.
Mr. Jin’s wife and 56 other Chinese Falun Gong practitioners living in Korea have been denied refugee status and are therefore at risk of future deportation.
Falun Gong, a spiritual practice involving meditative exercises and living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, has been persecuted in China since 1999. Practitioners have been subjected to forced labor and torture, even to the point of death. FDIC has documented over 3,000 deaths, but says the actual death toll may be in the tens of thousands. It reports that hundreds of thousands of practitioners are incarcerated at any given time.
Consequences of Repatriation
The severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China is well documented by many observers, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations. However, South Korea has turned away Falun Gong practitioners’ pleas for refugee status, stating that they did not provide proof that they were in danger if returned.
Perhaps the most severe expression of the persecution in China involves forced harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Canadians David Kilgour, the former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia/Pacific), and the international human rights lawyer David Matas, both of whom have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, concluded in a book and report titled “Bloody Harvest” that in the years 2000-2007 Falun Gong practitioners were the most likely source for the organs for 41,500 transplantations for which the Chinese state cannot provide a source.
At a press conference held Aug. 22 outside the complex of South Korean government buildings in Gwacheon, Taiwanese lawyer Kenneth Chiu said it is common knowledge that the CCP persecutes Falun Gong practitioners.
Chiu also explained that according to U.N. Articles 1 and 33 of the Refugee Convention, people who have been given refugee status can’t be deported, and these two articles also cannot be altered by any individual country. In other words, the South Korean government is in clear violation of the U.N. convention, which it has ratified.
Chiu pointed out that many Korean legal professionals are of the opinion that, based on the law, the sentences given to Falun Gong refugees are too harsh and very likely due to foreign factors, such as pressure from the CCP.
Kowtowing to China?
The Epoch Times previously reported that the South Korean Ministry of Justice began receiving refugee applications from Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Korea in 2002. For the first few years, however, the ministry just ignored the applications.
After a meeting in March 2006 between Chun Jung-bae, the South Korean minister of Justice, and China’s Public Security Minister, Zhou Yongkang, the refugee applications of over 20 Falun Gong practitioners were rejected, and the practitioners were immediately deported to China.
Falun Gong practitioners started legal procedures thereafter.
When the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee member and Director of Propaganda Li Changchun visited South Korea in April 2009, a Korean reporter, who did not want to give his name, told The Epoch Times that Li clearly told the South Korean government “to kick out any Falun Gong practitioners.”
Soon after, the South Korean Ministry of Justice started quickly rejecting Falun Gong practitioners’ refugee applications and deporting them. Since Li’s visit, 10 practitioners have been deported to China.
South Korea has received international criticism due to its intention to deport Jin and Shen. Protests have been held outside South Korean Embassies around the world and outside the UN, and members of the EU parliament and the U.S. Congress have written letters opposing the deportations. The controversy also dogged President Lee as he came to New York to receive a human rights award.
On Sept. 21, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation awarded Lee the World Statesman Award, which is presented to those who have worked on behalf of religious freedom, human rights, and tolerance. On Sept. 20, a letter was delivered to the foundation appealing for the practitioners facing deportation.
