Protest of China?s ?Diabolical Policy? Caps North Korea Freedom Week

5/2/07 North Korea (International Christian Concern) More than 60 people gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, on March 28 to protest what organizers termed China?s ?diabolical policy? of repatriating North Korean refugees, sending thousands of Koreans who had escaped into China back to their certain deaths across the Yalu River.

The protest, which brought together a coalition of North Korean defectors, political leaders in Washington, and concerned Christians, was the culminating public event of North Korea Freedom Week. Previous events in the week included presentations by North Korean refugees and high-level meetings between a delegation of defectors and members of the U.S. government.

Protesters were treated to a gorgeous spring day in Washington and the music of a four-person contemporary worship band that set the stage for the afternoon?s speakers. Pastor Ahm, a North Korean defector who now leads a church of defectors in South Korea, opened with a thundering prayer in Korean calling for ?freedom of religion in North Korea? to come quickly.

Organizers then read a series of greetings from prominent Washington officials. President George W. Bush, who met with the defectors? delegation, declared in a message to those gathered that ?the 21st century will be a century of freedom for all Koreans,? and that his administration ?would not rest in its efforts to support the North Korean people? strive for the rights they deserve. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) attacked the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees for ?sitting passively by? as this crisis unfolds, and called on China to ?reach out to people with no hope and without the chance to live a life of freedom.?

Other speakers included a former official of the Kim Jong Il government and members of a group called the Japanese Rescue Movement who have felt first-hand the effects of North Korean persecution. Dr. Carl A. Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, reminded Christians to join in the suffering of those in the Body of Christ and the human race at large (1Cor 12:21). Moeller condemned the policies of both China and the UNHCR, faulting them for ?moral bankruptcy.? Moeller pledged that Open Doors would sponsor 24-hour prayer for North Korea and would shine light on the issue of repatriation during China?s hosting of the Olympic Games in 2008.

Participants expressed frustration that both Japan and South Korea were too afraid of antagonizing North Korea and straining ties with China to effectively deal with the repatriation crisis, but a feeling of optimism nevertheless pervaded the hearts of those gathered, expecting that their prayers would not go unanswered and that some day the North Koreans might too be free.