Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SEOUL3891
2006-11-13 06:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Seoul
Cable title:  

ASSISTING NORTH KOREANS IN NORTHEAST CHINA: ONE GROUP'S STORY

Tags:  PREF KTIP KN KS CH PHUM 
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RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 003891 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2016
TAGS: PREF PRUM KTIP KN KS CH
SUBJECT: ASSISTING NORTH KOREANS IN NORTHEAST CHINA: ONE
GROUP'S STORY

Classified By: A/POL Brian McFeeters. Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

SUMMARY
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.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 003891

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2016
TAGS: PREF PRUM KTIP KN KS CH
SUBJECT: ASSISTING NORTH KOREANS IN NORTHEAST CHINA: ONE
GROUP'S STORY

Classified By: A/POL Brian McFeeters. Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

SUMMARY
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.

1. (C) Crossing Borders (protect) is a Christian organization
that provides assistance to North Korean migrants and
refugees in Yanji, China. American citizen Mike Kim (KIM
Sun-jung),approached the Embassy on November 1 to discuss
his organization's operations in China. Crossing Borders'
Korean-Chinese staff frequently travels into North Korea and
produces reports on the situation inside the DPRK. Kim, a
Korean-American, shared stories that he heard from North
Koreans that passed through his shelters. COMMENT: We are
unsure of Kim's motivation for approaching us, and are
cautious about the veracity of some of his claims about
Crossing Borders' work and the defector stories he recounted.
Nonetheless, we believe that his organization could be an
important source for information on conditions in North Korea
and a worthwhile contact to maintain. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.
.
CROSSING BORDERS: OPERATIONS
--------------
.

2. (C) Mike Kim (protect),a Korean-American who has lived in
Northeast China for four years, requested a meeting with
Poloffs on November 1 to discuss his involvement with
Christian-based organization Crossing Borders (protect). Kim
first went to China to visit house churches ("basically two
or three people praying in someone's home") and witness
first-hand the persecution of Christians. During the trip,
he learned of the plight of North Korean refugees and was
inspired to work on the issue after meeting his first North
Korean refugee, a North Korean girl who he thought was seven,
when she was in fact 13. Kim moved to China under cover of
being an electrician. Fearing discovery by Chinese
authorities, he changed his cover to a Taekwondo teacher, as
he has no training as an electrician. In an interesting
twist, Kim said that he had trained with two North Korean
Taekwondo masters in Yanji.
.

3. (C) Kim initially focused on helping North Korean refugees
seek asylum in third countries. He reported with pride that
he was involved in the 2003 incident in Shanghai in which
four North Korean teenagers entered the British Consulate.
Following Chinese crackdowns and deportations of North Korean
refugees after several such high-profile incursions into
diplomatic facilities, Kim reported his surprise at hearing
some farmers in Northeast China complain about the Crossing
Borders' tactics. These farmers, whose North Korean wives
had been deported, argued that, until the profile of the
issue was raised through such incidents, North Koreans were
able to live relatively undisturbed in Northeast China.
.

4. (C) Kim reported that most foreign activists who help
North Korean refugees in Northeast China do not last long.
They are generally arrested and deported within one year.
Because Kim wanted to live and work in China for a longer
time period, he decided to focus his work on providing
assistance to North Korean migrants and refugees and to
obtaining information on the situation inside North Korea.
Crossing Borders sends ten teams of Korean-Chinese staff in
to North Korea each month to gather information about the
situation there. These teams report primarily on social,
humanitarian, and human rights issues, but occasionally
gather information on military issues, Kim said.
.

5. (C) Crossing Borders also provides humanitarian assistance
and religious instruction and materials to North Korean
migrants and refugees that pass through its shelters and
Churches in Yanji, China, Kim stated. Crossing Borders, he
said, no longer helps North Koreans seek asylum elsewhere,
but rather helps North Koreans integrate in China or return
to North Korea. While the organization allows North Koreans
to choose their path, it encourages North Koreans to return
to the DPRK and return periodically to China with information
and for additional materials. Kim said his organization
thinks returning to North Korea is the best solution for
North Koreans, who face difficulty integrating elsewhere, and
said that Crossing Borders helps them establish business or
other means of surviving in North Korea.

SEOUL 00003891 002 OF 002


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DEFECTOR TESTIMONIES
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.

6. (C) Kim reported that, based on a survey conducted of the
North Koreans that passed through Crossing Borders' shelters
and churches, 97 percent of North Korean women are
trafficking victims. Kim told of another defector who had
been imprisoned in North Korea and reported being used by
prison guards for Taekwondo practice. Despite their
hardships, Kim said he has been struck by North Koreans'
resilience and will to survive.
.

7. (C) Kim also told us about a former DPRK soldier who
recalled watching television footage of U.S. operations in
Operation Desert Storm, and many considered that North Korean
forces could not compete. The DPRK solders were impressed
with the superior capabilities of the U.S. military. The
military, according to this defector, did not have enough
food, and many soldiers where unable to complete their daily
exercise routine due to malnutrition. Many were unable to
concentrate, Kim said the defector reported, because they
spent most of their time thinking of food or sleep. Kim said
that many soldiers are reportedly encouraged to steal goods
such as alcohol from other North Korean citizens for their
commanding officers. Kim described being struck by the
defector's description of the North Korean soldiers'
mentality, as most soldiers knew that many of them would not
survive in a war with the U.S. Kim recounted that the
defector told him that if a war broke out, most soldiers
would first shoot their commanding officers.
.
REPORTING INTO A BLACK HOLE
--------------
.

8. (C) Kim told Poloffs that Crossing Borders' reports are
produced and archived within the organization, and not
disseminated on a more regular basis. Kim expressed some
surprise at USG interest in information collected from North
Korean defectors and by Crossing Borders' representatives who
travel into North Korea. Kim said that the organization had
struggled between publicizing its information widely,
particularly through the media, and keeping its operations
and information more discreet. Kim seemed open to Poloffs'
suggestions for quiet and confidential channels through which
reporting could be shared with the USG, other NGOs, or both.
STANTON