Tag: Pyongyang

North Koreans ‘betrayed’ by human rights omission in Trump-Kim agreement

June 12, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Human rights, International Criminal Court, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Prisons, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, USA

After meeting Kim Jong-un in Singapore, US President Donald Trump said the many North Koreans currently being held in forced-labour camps were “one of the great winners today”. (Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

North Koreans were “betrayed” by the failure of US President Donald Trump to include human rights provisions in his agreement with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, following their historic meeting in Singapore, according to Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director, Phil Robertson. “The North Korean people have suffered for so long,” . . . Read More

A Christian escapee from North Korea has his doubts about Kim’s peace overtures

May 9, 2018 North Korea Bibles, Communism, Corruption, Donald Trump, Human rights, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, South Korea, Torture, Vietnam

South Koreans at the Seoul Railway Station on 9 May, 2018 watch on a screen reporting the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, to meet North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, right.

What North Korea’s leader seeks from the international community is appeasement and not peace, let alone the freedom of his own people, a North Korean escapee says. “True peace will have to come alongside freedom of faith, belief, expression, speech for North Korean people,” said the former citizen of North . . . Read More

North Korea: US citizens set for release ahead of Trump-Kim talks

May 3, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Jong-Un, Missionaries, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim, USA

The three Americans have been detained on charges ranging from committing "hostile acts" against the regime to spying for a foreign country. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Three American citizens detained in North Korea seem set to be released ahead of a meeting between the two countries’ leaders next month. The BBC reported that the three men had been “relocated to a Pyongyang hotel and are receiving good food and medical care”. US President Donald Trump tweeted . . . Read More

North Korean explains growing up under Kim dynasty, and how his perception of Christianity changed

March 20, 2018 North Korea Bibles, Children, China, Communism, Crosses, Education, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-Un, Missionaries, North Korea, Pyongyang, USA

Every year, for the birthdays of North Korea’s Kim dynasty founder, Kim Il-sung, and his son and successor, Kim Jong-il, John Choi* would receive a large pack of sweets from his parents. So would all his primary-school peers. However, before unpacking his present, John was told to follow the ritual . . . Read More

Otto Warmbier’s father joins Pence at Olympics to highlight North Korean abuses

February 9, 2018 Kim Jong-Un, Mike Pence, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, South Korea

As the Winter Olympics kick off in Pyeongchang, US Vice-President Mike Pence has arrived in South Korea with a guest – the father of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died shortly after being sent home from a North Korea prison in June last year. But, as the BBC reports, Mr. . . . Read More

North Korea frees Canadian church leader ‘on sick bail’

August 9, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kenneth Bae, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Seung-mo, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

Hyeun-soo Lim, the Korean Canadian church leader sentenced to life in prison with hard labour, has been freed today (9 August) “on sick bail”, says a North Korean state news agency. Convicted in December 2015 by the country’s Supreme Court of numerous charges, including an attempt to overthrow the government, he had been detained . . . Read More

Anger and tears as Otto ‘completes his journey home’

June 20, 2017 North Korea Donald Trump, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Seung-mo, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

The family of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier confirmed his death yesterday (19 June), just a week after he was released, in a coma, from 15 months’ detention in North Korea. In a statement, the family said it was their “sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his . . . Read More

Otto Warmbier’s father says ‘no excuse’ for North Korea to deny son medical care

June 15, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Seung-mo, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

The father of the 22-year-old American student released, in a coma, from North Korea this week says there’s “no excuse for a civilised nation to have kept his condition secret and to have denied him top-notch medical care”. Fred Warmbier said that he and his wife, Cindy, had gone for . . . Read More

North Korea frees US student Otto Warmbier ‘in coma’

June 13, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Seung-mo, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

North Korea has freed an American student detained since January 2016, and later sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour, for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from his Pyongyang hotel. Otto Warmbier, 22, is now on his way home, to be reunited with his family, according to US Secretary of . . . Read More

North Korean accused of ‘spying’ after visiting Christian relatives in China

June 9, 2017 North Korea China, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong-Un, Kim Seung-mo, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

A North Korean man has been arrested on “spying” charges after meeting with Christian relatives in China, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.Kim Seung-mo, 61, was arrested on 3 June after visiting family in China’s Jilin province, which runs along the North Korean border. “After he came back from China, he . . . Read More

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