Sometimes we forget how hard it can be to survive in other parts of the world.

Two public executions in North Korea were secretly taped recently, and the video footage was smuggled out of that country. The video captured two outdoor trials and the executions that immediately followed.

In an effort to spread public awareness of the problems faced by North Korean refugees, a Japanese NGO, Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (LFNKR), produced a DVD showing these public executions, which took place on March 1 and 2, 2005.

More information is available at http://www.north-korea-executions.com

Heavy traffic is expected at that website, however, so an alternate site has been set up at
http://www.NorthKoreanRefugees.com/dvd.htm

These shocking images may help the world to realize the atrocities that the North Korean people deal with on a regular basis, and may also help explain why so many thousands flee that country each year.

Meanwhile, China continues to arrest all the North Korean refugees it finds, and sends them back, where they face political charges, prison and, in some cases, summary execution. The greatest current need is certification of their status as refugees by UNHCR.

This video of public executions reinforces the credibility of stories by North Korean defectors, who have claimed for years that public executions are nothing unusual, but instead are routine daily events.

The video, however, provides only a glimpse of the ongoing human rights violations in North Korea. Helping anyone escape from that country is classed as criminal activity and is termed “human trafficking” or “abduction.” The people executed in this video segment fell into this category.

A person crossing the border into China in search of food, if caught in China and sent back, is open to charges of treason and is likely to be punished as a political criminal. Political criminals are denied all human rights, including the right to a fair trial.

Numerous independent sources have reported that any North Korean woman who becomes pregnant by a Chinese man, and is then repatriated, is forced to undergo an abortion as a criminal carrying the seed of a foreigner. Escapees have also stated that if a late-term fetus survives the abortion and is born live, the infant is immediately suffocated to death.

Not all political prisoners are executed. Those who escape execution are sent to the gulags. However, nearly none survive there long enough to serve out their full term and gain release. Today, more than 200,000 people are reportedly serving sentences in the gulags.

From the DVD, the original copyright holder Jin-Net (Japan Independent News Net) has given permission to post a 3-minute clip on the Internet, which is available for everyone to watch.

Jin-Net has also published a statement providing important background information on the video footage, including how its credibility was checked.

To see the 3 minute clip from the DVD, go to http://www.north-korea-executions.com

Or the alternate site, which is at http://www.NorthKoreanRefugees.com/dvd.htm

And please never forget that there are people in this world who really do need our help.

Cheers from sunny Japan,
Charles
~~ http://www.charlesburke.com ~~