Tag Archives: Congressional Executive Commission on China

In the News – Emergency Hearing on North Korean Refugees in China

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In the News – Emergency Hearing on North Korean Refugees in China

From L to R, T. Kumar, Director, International Advocacy for Amnesty International USA; Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; and Michael Horowitz, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute testifies before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, March 5. They said that China’s forced repatriation of North Korean refugees violates International law. (Gary Feuerberg/ The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTON—The Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) held an emergency hearing to draw attention to the over 30 North Korean refugees who had fled to China and are facing the imminent danger of repatriation. If returned, they face certain persecution, torture, and even execution.

“The international community—especially the United Nations, the Obama Administration, and the U.S. Congress—must insist that China at long last honor its treaty obligations, end its egregious practice of [forced return to North Korea], or be exposed as hypocrites,” said Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman of the CECC, March 5 in his opening remarks. Continue reading →

In the News – U.S. urged to link N. Korean defectors’ fate with food aid

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In the News – U.S. urged to link N. Korean defectors’ fate with food aid

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Yonhap) — The Barack Obama administration should tie any food aid to North Korea with its handling of defectors fleeing their totalitarian and hunger-stricken homeland, a U.S. congressman said Monday.

“It’s unclear whether or not the Obama Administration’s food aid to North Korea – some 240,000 metric tons per year – contains any conditions or links to the refugees. It should,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who chairs the Congressional Executive Commission on China, said at a hearing on China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. Continue reading →