North Korea: S. Korean college lecturer faces imprisonment for espionage
— Yonhap News reports: “A South Korean court on Wednesday sentenced a college lecturer to 10 years in prison for spying for North Korea over the last 17 years.”
— “Prosecutors indicted the man, identified only by his last name Lee, last October on charges of providing information on South Korean military operations and key facilities to the communist North on five occasions after receiving $30,000 from a North Korean agent based in India.”
Category: Totalitarianism
North Korea Likely to Crack Down on Christians after Activist’s Entry
Communist China: Korla Police and Farm Leaders Burn Bibles and Persecute Elderly Christians
ChinaAid reports: “On December 25, 2009, farm leaders and police broke into the home of Wang Qiyue, a 71-year-old widow, disrupting the Christmas gathering and ransacking her home. These “People’s Police” burned Ms. Wang’s furniture, as she was thrown against a police car by the Korla Chief of Security, Yu Fagan. Six farm leaders next barged into the home of 69-year-old hemiplegic He Cuiying, and confiscated more than 30 Bibles and spiritual books. The leaders then burned the materials in a bonfire outside her home, as a means of public humiliation. Later, five elderly Christians were arrested with no cause and fined 5,000 Yuan each.”
Read more about the persecution of the elderly Christians in Korla.
Communist China’s Influence on U.S. Congress Growing
While Communist China continues it totalitarian practices and abuses of human rights, the Washington Post is reporting how Communist China is gaining power in the U.S. Congress. The Post should know, after all, its own Bob Woodward has been a scheduled speaker at cocktail parties at the Communist Chinese embassy. (See also R.E.A.L. article in April 2009.)
— Image showing the millions of dollars that Communist China spends on lobbying in Washington DC
— Washington Post reports: “China’s lobbying efforts yield new influence, openness on Capitol Hill”
— “Ten years ago, U.S. lawmakers publicly accused the China Ocean Shipping Co. of being a front for espionage and blocked plans to expand its Long Beach, Calif., port terminal over fears that Chinese spies would use it to snoop on the United States.”
— “By last year, Congress was seeing the state-owned Chinese behemoth in a far kinder light. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) authored a resolution applauding the company for employing thousands of Americans and helping keep the waters of Alaska clean. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) hailed the firm on the House floor, calling its chief executive “a people’s ambassador” to the United States after it rescued Boston’s port — and thousands of jobs — when a European shipping line moved out.”
— “The congressional about-face illustrates a dramatic increase in China’s influence on Capitol Hill, where for years its lobbying muscle never matched its ballooning importance in world affairs. Members of Congress, lobbyists and other observers said China’s new prominence is largely the result of Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated efforts to influence events at the center of U.S. power — and a growing realization among U.S. lawmakers that China has become a critical economic player across America.”
— “Although many Americans still view China with deep suspicion because of its communist system and human rights record, the results of Beijing’s image-and-influence campaign are clear. Members of Congress ‘are starting to understand that the Chinese are not communist but that the Chinese are Chinese,’ said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). China is Oregon’s biggest export market after Canada.”
— “The new openness toward China is often subtle and not shared by all. But an undeniable evolution is taking place, congressional staffers and analysts said, as members of Congress, many with increasing numbers of large and small businesses in their districts that depend on trade with China, are now far more likely to kill or water down measures opposed by Beijing.”
R.E.A.L Postings on Totalitarianism
Additional Selected R.E.A.L. Postings on Communist China
ChinaAid challenges ‘misleading’ report
“Argentine Judge Orders Arrest of Top Chinese Communist Party Officials for Crimes Against Humanity”
Communist China Sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in Prison on Christmas Day
Report: Communist China Mass Murderer’s Image on White House Christmas Tree Ornament
ChinaAid: Gao Zhisheng Tortured, Family Repressed
Communist China: Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Sentenced to Seven Years – Wang Yonghang
Communist China: 5 More Church Leaders Sentenced to Prison Without Trial
Communist China: Church Leaders Complaining About Church Destruction Get 7 and 3 Years in Prison
Communist China: Church Defies Police to Worship
Women’s Rights Defender Jiang Tianyong Arrested, Wife Beaten in Communist China
Communist China: Beijing Continues Relentless Crackdown on Shouwang Church
Communist China: China protesters plead for help from Obama
DC: Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing Announcement – Rule of Law in China
Communist China: U.S. Defense Secretary Gates calls for lasting military dialogue with China
Communist China: 10 More Arrested After Detainees Refuse to Leave Without Fellow Linfen Pastor
Communist China: “One Million Rights Activists Detained in China”
Database Opens to Track Psychiatric Abuse in Communist China
Communist China: Falun Gong Practitioner Dies From Persecution in Beijing
DC: “After Crushed Legs and Dreams, Fang Zheng Stands for Freedom”
US Epoch Times Reports: ‘Gao Zhisheng, My Husband — Where Are You?’
Communist China: US President Barack Obama cancels meeting with Dalai Lama ‘to keep China happy’
Communist China: Mass Arrests of Falun Gong Prior to Communist Anniversary
NYC: Empire State Building Honors China, Critics Protest
Communist China: Beijing crackdown for 60th anniversary gala
Communist China: China Aid Group’s Bob Fu Issues Public Statement on CPC’s 60th Anniversary
September 30: Human Rights Protest at Washington DC PRC Embassy
Communist China: 14 Han Chinese Christians Detained and Interrogated in Xinjiang
ChinaAid reports: On January 7, 2010, Nong Wu Shi PSB officials in the Aksu region raided a house church, arresting 14 house church members. The military PSB detained the members for over 12 hours, on charges of participating in “illegal religious activities.” The next morning, 11 were released, leaving house church leaders Yang Tianlu, He Sujin, and Sujin’s son, He Guangyuan, in detention.
Read more about the raid and arrest of 14 Han Chinese house church Christians.
Communist China: Attorney Li Baiguang Files Appeal for Uyghur Christian Alimujiang Yimiti
ChinaAid reports: On January 7, 2010, Attorney Li Baiguang sent letters of appeal on behalf of Alimujiang Yimiti to the Xinjiang Provincial Government and Chinese Central Government. In the letters, he stated that, by law, the charge of “unlawfully providing state secrets to overseas organizations” and the sentence of 15-years imprisonment were illegal and should be withdrawn. He further requested an immediate review of the case.
Read more about Li Baiguang’s Appeal on behalf of Alimujiang Yimiti.
Philadelphia: Human Rights Activists Celebrate a Night of Chinese Culture of Freedom
On January 2, 2010, R.E.A.L. supporters and other human rights activists from the Voice of the Copts, Pakistan Christian Congress, and Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) attended the Shen Yun Performing Arts show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Epoch Times reported on this and on our comments at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music.
I accompanied Falun Gong’s Lisa Tao and others from the Washington DC area to the Shen Yun performance in Philadelphia. At R.E.A.L.’s December 10, 2009 press conference at the National Press Club on Human Rights Day, Lisa Tao and Jin Pang told of the torture of their families in Communist China because of their beliefs. Lisa told of her father was “tortured to death” by the Communist Chinese government, and of her own torture. Lisa told the press and the audience on December 10 how “I was also frequently beaten, and many times I was close to being beaten to death.” Jin Pang told of the imprisonment and torture of her mother and her aunt. Her mother and aunt were part of 10,000 Falun Gong supporters arrested during the Beijing Olympics. During the DC press conference, Lisa told of estimates that the Communist government has killed 80 million people, and she told of the countless others tortured, imprisoned, and abused by the Chinese Communist government.
But like during our protest of the 60th anniversary of the Communist Chinese government at the PRC embassy on September 30 (October 1 Beijing time), Lisa does not tire or get discouraged. She glows from the power of hope, love, and freedom that her beliefs have taught her. It is something that the Communists could never take away from her. She found extraordinary strength in her faith and in her belief in human freedom.
On our trip together to see the Shen Yun performance in Philadelphia on a bitterly cold January night, she does not notice the chill, as we stopped together to get a fish sandwich at a nearby McDonalds. (Meantime, I am bundled with layers of clothing and a heavy sweater.)
Quietly, just like Lisa Tao regularly protests at the PRC embassy without publicity or the press, Lisa Tao is also waging a daily battle for human freedom in Communist China. That night Lisa shared with me her efforts that day alone in helping Chinese people to find the courage to stand up and defy the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the United States, Lisa calls people in Communist China on the telephone and tells them about Falun Dafa and also encourages them to stand up against the CCP. She is part of a “Quit CCP” movement of Chinese people who publicly renounce their support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
That day alone, Lisa Tao convinced 10 new people to publicly Quit the CCP. Her efforts won’t be recorded in any local news media. But she has the quiet confidence and satisfaction of someone who is living the courage of her convictions.
The Quit CCP movement states that over 66 million Chinese have left the CCP since December 2004. Public individual statements are posted on the Quit CCP campaign web site. Every day, Lisa Tao and freedom fighters around the world seek to extend a hand to other Chinese people who are lifting themselves up out of oppression.
The march for freedom – for human beings around the world – is just getting started. But every day, there are new members joining that march and taking up the cause.
We share their commitment to universal human rights, and to being Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
Love Wins.
ChinaAid challenges ‘misleading’ report
Baptist Press reports:
— “The human rights organization ChinaAid is challenging a ‘misleading assessment about the true situation of the church in China’ released by the World Evangelical Alliance, a report that praised the Chinese government and state-sanctioned churches for their cooperation in spreading Christianity in the communist nation.”
— “ChinaAid said they felt compelled to respond after Chinese house church leaders and other Christians in the West expressed concern over the glowing report issued by WEA.”
North Korea Detains American Activist Robert Park Who Calls for Human Rights; NKFC Calls for Humanitarian Consideration
North Korea confirms detention of US citizen
— London Times reports:
— “A brief report by the Korean Central News Agency yesterday noted the arrest of an unnamed US citizen, thought to be Robert Park, a 28-year-old of Korean descent, who walked across the frozen Tumen River that divides China from North Korea.”
— “He carried with him letters addressed to Mr Kim, asking him to step down as leader, release political prisoners and open the isolated country to foreigners.”
— ” ‘I am going in for the sake of the lives of the North Korean people,’ he told Reuters news agency before traveling to China from the South Korean capital, Seoul, last week.”
— ” ‘If Mr Kim kills me, in a sense, I realise this is better. Then the governments of the world will become more . . . embarrassed and more forced to make a statement. Until the concentration camps are liberated, I do not want to come out. If I have to die with them I will. These innocent men, women and children … as Christians, we need to take the cross for them.’ ”
— “Supporters and relatives of Mr Park, whose border crossing was filmed by Christian activists, expressed relief that he was alive, despite a discrepancy in the date in the state media report.”
— North Korea Detains U.S. Activist
— North Korea holding American
— Washington Times: “The report did not identify the American, but activists believe he is 28-year-old Christian missionary Robert Park, who they say slipped across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea from China on Christmas bearing letters calling for a change in North Korea’s leadership and an end to political prison camps.”
North Korea Freedom Coalition Appeals for Humanitarian Consideration for American Robert Park
Washington, DC (December 30, 2009) The North Korea Freedom Coalition has sent urgent appeals today for humanitarian consideration for American Robert Park, a devout Christian, who crossed into North Korea on Christmas Day in his words “to proclaim Christ’s love and forgiveness” and to call upon North Korea to open its borders so food and medicine can be delivered and to close down its political prison camps. NKFC sent appeals to Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Sweden’s Ambassador to North Korea Mats Foyer (the protecting power for United States in the DPRK); and Ambassador Sin Son Ho, North Korea’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Citing Robert Park’s motivation for entering North Korea as an expression of his great love and compassion for the North Korean people, NKFC specifically requested Dr. Kellenberger and Ambassador Foyer’s help to ensure that Park is treated humanely. In their letters to Kellenberger and Foyer, they noted that international attention to the detainment of American activists Euna Lee and Laura Ling was critical and led to their eventual return home, while permanent American resident Reverend Kim Dong Shik starved to death while detained in North Korea.
In their letter to North Korean Ambassador Sin appealing for Park to be given humanitarian consideration, the non-denominational NKFC, which has Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim members, wrote, “We know that Robert Park entered North Korea illegally, but we know him to be a man of great love and compassion for humanity and especially for the people of North Korea…We appeal to the authorities in North Korea to consider that this man’s actions were totally motivated by his love for them and that his behavior is modeled on the teachings of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe laid down his life for mankind. Certainly, this was what motivated Robert to cross the border on the day that Jesus’ birth is celebrated around the world.”
Park has been spearheading efforts in South Korea including prayer vigils and mass demonstrations to call attention to the suffering of the North Korean people and has led the worldwide campaign Freedom and Life for all North Koreans. He has not been heard from since he crossed the border on Christmas Day, but North Korean authorities have confirmed that he is in their custody.
“He knew fully the risks of going to North Korea,” said NKFC Chairman Suzanne Scholte, “but was willing to lay down his life for the North Korean people who are the most persecuted people in the world today. We need to honor his commitment by redoubling our efforts to promote freedom and human rights for North Koreans. “
The NKFC released a report this month entitled “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and North Korea” that examines the thirty articles of this document to conclude that North Koreans are denied every single one of these universally accepted human rights standards. The document is available at nkfreedom.org.
For further information, visit nkfreedom.org or call 703-534-4313 703-534-4313 .
Communist China to lift Internet, phone bans in Xinjiang: state media
Communist China to lift Internet, phone bans in Xinjiang: state media
— AFP reports: “China plans to restore online access and lift a ban on text messages and international calls in Xinjiang, state media said Tuesday, months after deadly ethnic unrest prompted a communications shutdown.”
— “The official Xinhua news agency quoted the regional government as saying it had restored access to part of the wire’s website as well as parts of the website of the state-run People’s Daily newspaper.”