Another protest organized by No Chain will take place in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Tuesday Nov. 24, between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., the NGO announced Monday.
The Tuesday protest will “continue to highlight and bring attention to the nine North Korean refugees recently arrested by Vietnam and handed over to the Chinese authorities, and who are believed to be held in a detention facility in Tumen, China,” according to No Chain’s North American director, Henry Song.
A letter urging the Chinese government to not repatriate the “Vietnam 9” will also be delivered to the PRC Embassy in Washington, Song stated.
Nine North Korean refugees who crossed the China-Vietnam border into Vietnam were arrested by Vietnamese authorities and handed over to Chinese police authorities in late October. According to the latest media reports, the 9 are being held in a detention facility in Tumen, Jilin Province, awaiting repatriation to North Korea.
“It is absolutely reprehensible that the Vietnamese authorities arrested and handed over the North Korean refugees to the Chinese police,” said Song, “and now all eyes are on the Chinese authorities if they will continue their illegal and immoral act of forcibly repatriating the 9 North Korean refugees back to North Korea, in violation of their own responsibilities as a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Citizens, activists, and North Korean defectors will come out and show their concern and support for the refugees, and urge the Chinese government to not repatriate them but allow them to go to South Korea.”
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