NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 158

May 19, 2011) *** TIP ON NORTH KOREA U.S. Repeats Calls for Release of American Citizen Held in N. Korea WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States on May 12 renewed its insistence that North Korea release on humanitarian grounds an American citizen held there reportedly for proselytizing. Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, also said that Swedish diplomats have had consular access to the Korean-American, Jun Yong-su, on six occasions since March. "I know that our protecting power has been able to have access to him and to confirm his welfare," Toner said. "We would just reiterate our call that North Korean authorities release him on humanitarian grounds." The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North Korea as Washington does not have diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. North Korea in April said it would soon indict Jun without specifying his crime. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter failed to bring back Jun when he visited Pyongyang late last month. In August, Carter brought back another American citizen, Aijalon Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years in a labor and re-education camp and fined US$700,000 for illegal entry months earlier. Jun's family has sent an open letter to North Korea, seeking his release. "We write to plead for the humanitarian release of Eddie Yong Su Jun, our loving father and husband, who has been detained by the DPRK (North Korea) since November 2010," the family said in the letter in early May. "We have recently received worrisome news that he has been hospitalized, and we are grateful to the DPRK for supplying him with medical attention. However, we remain extremely concerned about his sensitive health condition." Jun has been involved in unauthorized religious activities in the reclusive communist state, according to informed sources. The Korean-American businessman has been held in North Korea since November for his involvement in missionary work, they said, adding the man, who is in his 60s, attends a church in Orange County, California, and has been traveling frequently to North Korea on a business visa. Members of some South Korean and Korean-American churches have been caught in China in recent years for their role in helping North Korean refugees defect to South Korea or engaging in religious activities in North Korea. Another Korean-American, Robert Park, crossed the Chinese border on Christmas Day 2009 to draw international attention to North Korea's poor human rights record. A devout Christian, Park was released in February last year. ------------------------ N. Korea Holds Thousands of Political Prisoners in Dire Conditions SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is holding thousands of political prisoners in at least six facilities where they face extrajudicial executions, torture and forced labor, Amnesty International said on May 13. "Torture appeared to be widespread in prison camps," the London-based rights group said in its annual report. "Many were executed for minor infractions and others were forced to watch the public executions." The report said at least 60 people were reportedly executed publicly, though it did not elaborate on the source of its information. It also did not give any further details on how many are being held in political prison camps. South Korea believes that more than 150,000 people are being detained in North Korea's political prison camps. The dire picture painted by the Amnesty International report serves as the latest reminder of widespread violations of human rights in North Korea. North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Still, the communist nation has denied accusations of its alleged rights abuses, calling them a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. The report came a day after the head of South Korea's human rights watchdog urged North Korean defectors in the South to report human rights abuses they suffered or witnessed while in the communist state. ------------------------ N. Korea Blocks Private Trips to China, Jittery over Arab Spring SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is reportedly preventing all of its people from making private trips to China, apparently over worries that travelers could learn about the Arab Spring and deliver the news back at home, a U.S. broadcaster reported. Radio Free Asia (RFA) in a May 14 report cited an ethnic Chinese person with the surname Ryu residing in North Korea as saying that the government "has disvowed all private trips, excluding those of official state visits, since this year." Ryu added that the paperwork and customs process required for Chinese nationals to visit North Korea has also become very "fussy." An ethnic Korean living in China, with the family name of Kim, was trying to invite a younger sibling residing in Pyongyang to China but was denied by the government. "There are lots of people around me under similar situations," Kim said. RFA, citing other sources in the socialist country, said the apparent denial of trips to China seems related to the pro-democracy movements in Africa and the Middle East. South Korean officials believe the North Korean leadership has learned of the growing crisis in the Middle East, especially in Libya, where ruler Moammar Gadhafi is bombing civilian forces who are demanding his removal while the U.S. mulls armed intervention. North Korea has reportedly denied private trips to China since late August of last year, about one month ahead of the ruling party's conference on Sept. 28. It later reopened trips to China in November, promoting the move as a "special favor" by heir apparent Kim Jong-un. ------------------------ U.S. Reviewing U.N. Report on N. Korea's Missile Proliferation to Iran WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States said on May 16 it is studying a U.N. report alleging that North Korea has continued proliferating missiles and their parts to Iran and other Middle Eastern countries in violation of international sanctions. "We're looking at the report and we're studying it," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a daily press briefing. "We've raised these concerns in the past and we'll continue to do so." A U.N. panel reviewing sanctions on North Korea has prepared a report that says Pyongyang has been violating the U.N. Security Council resolutions banning development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by continuing to provide missile, parts and expertise to Iran and other countries. The resolutions were adopted after North Korea tested nuclear bombs and test-launched ballistic missiles in 2006 and 2009. The report may not be officially released as China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, has not yet endorsed it. All of the 15 Security Council members need to sign it before being released. China is one of veto-wielding five permanent members of the council. International talks on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement have been in limbo for more than two years over the sanctions for the North's nuclear and missile tests, and Pyongyang's shelling of a South Korean border island and torpedoing of a South Korean warship that killed 50 people last year. ------------------------ U.S. to Make Food Aid Decision Based on Apolitical Needs Assessment WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States said on May 17 it has not yet made a decision on providing food aid to North Korea, but reiterated that any decision will be made on humanitarian grounds, not politics. The remarks by State Department spokesman Mark Toner came amid reports that Washington will soon send food to North Korea, suffering from widespread hunger due to floods and a harsh winter. "We've been evaluating the assessments by the World Food Program and other NGOs, but we've made no decision," Toner said at a daily news briefing. "It's important to note that our position on food aid is entirely separate from any political decision we may make or any policy decision we may make vis-a-vis North Korea. Our food assistance program -- and we've made that clear many times from this podium and elsewhere -- is based on a credible, apolitical assessment of the needs and also autonomy over how that food assistance is delivered." On the report that Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will lead a U.S. fact-finding mission to North Korea in the end of May to assess the food situation there, Toner said, "We expect to make a decision soon about Ambassador King's travel, but at this point we haven't announced anything." Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, currently in Seoul to discuss possible food aid to North Korea and the resumption of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, said Tuesday that Seoul and Washington have "a common view" on food aid to North Korea. Seoul and Washington, the two biggest food donors to the impoverished North, have in recent months discussed possible food shipments, but have yet to reach a conclusion. Media reports say Washington is more favorable to food aid than South Korea. North Korea recently appealed to the U.S. for provisions, suspended two years ago over a lack of transparency in the distribution and mounting tensions after the North's nuclear and missile tests. The United Nations last month appealed for 430,000 tons of food for North Korea to feed 6 million people stricken by floods and severe winter weather. A U.N. monitoring team concluded a fact-finding mission in North Korea early last month. King told a media roundtable last month that the U.S. will consult with South Korea closely in making any decision on food aid to North Korea, but added, "The United States can make an independent decision." South Korean conservatives say North Korea is exaggerating its food shortages in an effort to hoard food in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late leader, Kim Il-sung, next April 15. ------------------------ North Korea on 'Dead-end Road' Unless It Denuclearizes: Envoy SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea will remain on the wrong path unless it abandons its nuclear weapons program, the top U.S. envoy to Seoul said on May 18, urging the socialist state to work toward a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula. "Without denuclearization, North Korea is on a dead-end road. That's about as clear as I can be right now," U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens said at a debate hosted by the Kwanhun Club, a fraternity of senior Korean journalists. "There really is a choice here to be made and ... there are actions that North Korea could take to demonstrate it is making a choice towards moving towards everything being possible as outlined" in a 2005 denuclearization agreement, she said. The agreement, signed within the framework of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S., committed Pyongyang to dismantle all its nuclear programs. In return, the isolated and impoverished state was promised normalized relations with the U.S. and Japan, a permanent peace treaty with South Korea, and large amounts of economic and energy aid. Implementation of that pact has been stalled over a series of provocations by the North that started with two test nuclear explosions in 2006 and 2009, and peaked with two deadly attacks on a South Korean warship and border island last year. Despite such incidents, North Korea has in recent months said it would like to resume the six-party negotiations that have been deadlocked since December 2008 and even discuss its newly revealed uranium enrichment program within that forum. The ambassador was speaking as Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is in Seoul to meet South Korean officials over the resumption of the six-way talks and possible food aid to the North. "As we've said repeatedly, we would like to see action from North Korea, not just words," Stephens said, declining to name the specific actions Pyongyang could take as it has "little room" to maneuver. "Words are important, but action also shows the seriousness of purpose and we would like to see actions by North Korea that would demonstrate its commitment to implementing the 2005 Joint Statement of Principles," she added. On the possibility of direct dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea, she said it would largely depend on developments in inter-Korean relations. "We also are prepared to engage bilaterally, but I think we've been very clear that we want to see first and foremost an improvement in the atmosphere of North-South."