BEIJING OLYMPICS AND CHINA'S ILLEGAL REPATRIATION OF NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES

LETTER TO THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is more than just a sporting event; it's your coming out party. You hope to leverage the Games to show the world that China is not just a modern nation, but once again a great world power.

But the definition of greatness has changed since the last time you were so. Military and economic power still count, but to be respected as a great power today, a country must also demonstrate moral leadership.

You not only signed but also occupy a position within the UN that is supposed to lead the other nations to respect the UN Convention on Refugees, which clearly states, "No Contracting State shall expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."

You know perfectly well that "life or freedom" of the North Korean Christians you hunt down and repatriate will be "threatened on account of... religion" in North Korea. You also know that the "life" of the unborn babies carried by pregnant North Korean women will not only be "threatened" but terminated upon repatriation.

You claim that you ask the Kim Jong Il regime to stop imprisoning and killing repatriated Christians and babies, but that's not good enough. Until that regime listens to you, your signature on the Convention prohibits you from repatriating them. And no Convention is needed to condemn your people who rape, enslave and traffic North Korean women and girls.

As the Olympic Games approach, so do three options regarding the North Korean refugees on your soil.

You can try to make them disappear before the Games by stepping up arrests and repatriation as you are now doing. But we live in the age of digital cameras and camcorders. Persecuting refugees to make them disappear will backfire and show the world a backward, hypocrite China that is an accomplice to crimes against humanity.

If you want show China to be a modern nation, stop the arrests and repatriations, and at least let the UN High Commission on Refugees access the border region so that it can help and resettle the refugees in South Korea.

If you want China to be hailed as a great nation, demonstrate greatness. Magnanimously grant amnesty to the North Korean refugees already in China, announce an assistance and resettlement program in cooperation with UNHCR, and severe punishments for anyone caught enslaving or trafficking women and girls.

China will be in the world's spotlight in August 2008. The respect you get will depend on how you welcome not the most privileged guests on your soil, but the least privileged and the most vulnerable.

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