South Korea Deports Falun Gong Refugees for Political Reasons, Group Says
| January 30, 2011 | ||
| By Epoch Times Staff | ||
SEOUL—The South Korean government quickly and quietly deported three Chinese refugees on Jan. 22; there, they face jail and torture. The individuals were all practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is persecuted on the mainland. The Korean Falun Dafa Association believes the deportations were instigated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who exerts political pressure on the South Korean government. In this case the deportations were an act of retaliation, they said, because the CCP’s recent attempt to thwart Shen Yun Performing Arts in Korea failed. Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance company that tours the globe, is hosted and supported by the Falun Dafa Association. The statements were made on Jan. 24 at an improvised press conference held by the Association in front of the Ministry of Justice. They told the government to resist the CCP’s influence, safeguard Korea’s image, and defend the country’s sovereignty. During the press conference Ms. Xu, the sister of one of the deportees, said that she found out about the deportation during a phone call with friends and family in China; she was not notified by the South Korean authorities until two days after the deportation, which is not a standard practice. Ms. Xu said that the Chinese police not only know the identity of those Falun Gong practitioners, but also the details of the activities they engaged in while in Korea. They are thus in grave danger, she said. Her own case serves as an example. When she went back to China to visit last year she was immediately detained by agents of the “610 Office,” an extrajudicial agency set up to coordinate and carry out the persecution of Falun Gong. She was interrogated for more than five hours. The Chinese police told her words to the effect of: “We know your activities in South Korea, and the fact that your brother is at the detention center. Our people are over there; we even know all the phone numbers.” They then rattled off the names of the Falun Dafa Association volunteers, she said, apparently in an attempt to intimidate. Given that she was put through that experience as a South Korean citizen, she said she can only imagine what might happen to her brother, who is still a Chinese citizen. Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death since the persecution began 11 years ago. The U.S.-based Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners, a group of volunteers who monitor the welfare of and advocate for practitioners in China, tried to contact the deportees and their families. Family members of two said they were notified of the imminent deportation but were given no details. The third family said the individual had returned home but that they’re in pain over what happened and don’t want to talk further. It was said that one of the deportees had already been badly tortured several times by police to the extent that the deportee could barely speak, but that remained unverified. The Korean Falun Dafa Association believes that their government routinely deports practitioners after being pressured by the CCP. There is a clear pattern, they say, as well as a recent incident that gives credence to this. Most recently the U.S.-based performing arts company Shen Yun was touring South Korea, and the CCP repeatedly attempted to get the show canceled in the city of Busan. After failing to stop the show in Busan, the Chinese Vice Consul General there, Jin Yanguang, went to pressure the Daegu city government one day before the performance there. Officials in Daegu warned Jin: “You engage in this every year, don’t do it again, and leave!” Jin then said, ominously: “If the show performs, something major is going to happen.” The deportations took place in short order. And nor was it the first time. The Falun Dafa Association says that since July 2009 the government has forcibly deported seven Falun Gong refugee applicants on four separate occasions due to pressure from the Chinese regime. This violates the United Nations “Refugee Convention” and “Convention Against Torture,” they said, which South Korean has ratified The South Korean Ministry of Justice began receiving refugee applications from practitioners in 2002. While the authorities attempt to process them, the CCP interferes. At the same time, the Association says that the South Korean government learnt to use the refugee applications as political bargaining chips in dealing with the CCP. Understandings along those lines may have been reached in meetings held between CCP and South Korean government officials. In March 2005 the South Korean Minister of Justice at the time, Chun Jung-bae, met with Zhou Yongkang, one of the main culprits in the persecution. Shortly afterwards the Ministry rejected 32 Falun Gong refugee applications. Chinese agents began showing up in court hearings, and Chinese media started publishing distorted stories about the applications. Li Changchun, propaganda chief and member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest power center in the Party, visited South Korea in spring 2009. He is reported to have made clear that the Korean government should “kick Falun Gong practitioners out of South Korea.” It wasn’t long before the Ministry of Justice got a lot speedier on Falun Gong refugee applications. A spate of deportations followed. Falun Gong practitioners in Korea began their own campaign: to collect signatures of support. Eleven members of the South Korean Congress and 130 local Congress members put their names up, speaking out against the forced repatriations. Around that time 23 U.S. House of Representatives sent a joint letter to the South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, also urging an end to the practice. The letter said that Korea, as a civilized country that respects human rights, should not ruin its reputation and forsake its integrity. The portion of the public that knows what is happening is censorious of the government for it, The Epoch Times discovered in discussions and interviews over the last several weeks. ______________________________________________________________________ To visit the original article: |
