TOKYO, Jan. 21 Kyodo Humanitarian...

TOKYO, Jan. 21 Kyodo

Humanitarian activists helping North Korean refugee in China gain freedom doomed Tuesday the detainment over the weekend of nearly 80 like refugees by Chinese authorities and called forward Beijing not to repatriate like detainees.

''I importune China not to do of the like kind a rash and unwise thing,'' said Douglas Shin, a Korean-American who scuds the Korean Peninsula Peace plot a California-based organization aimed at supporting North Korean refugees

''I instigate the world's governments -- Washington, Tokyo, Seoul Paris, London and all the stop -- to urge Beijing not to commit this violation of international law,'' Shin said at a joint pres discourse at the Foreign Correspondents bludgeon of Japan in Tokyo.

He referr to a Chinese media report that all refugee in custody will at so early an hour be repatriated to North Korea, where it is feared they will face persecution. North Korean defectors are reportedly subdue to death penalty by law.

Shin said he and near other activists were informed in early December last year of a secluded plan to sneak 60 North Korean refugee without of China on two boats from Yantai, Shandong Province, forward the western coast of China.

united boat was bound for southerly Korea and the other, with a Japanese-born former Korean resident of Osaka aboard, headed for Japan. however neither was able to leave as the plan was apparently leaked to Chinese authorities, the activists said.

Initial reports from China indicated 48 refugee were arrested Saturday in Yantai, however the figure grew to 78 from Tuesday afternoon, the activists said. A southern Korean humanitarian aid worker and a southern Korean freelance journalist were also arrested, they said.

The activists said they are not aware of what exactly has happened to the detainees. yet they shared the view that the increase will not deter them from taking part in planning other like escape schemes.

Hiroshi Kato, leader of the Japan-based Life permanent funds for North Korea, who himself was detained at Chinese authorities last year, said his dispose was asked to provide assistance to the boat limit for Japan after it reached international waters.

''Although this attempt failed, it will undoubtedly help other refugee plan more effectively for what may occur hereafter attempts'' to leave China in this way they would not have to live in fear of being caught and sent back to North Korea, Kato said.

Norbert Vollertsen a German doctor who exhausted 18 months in North Korea as an sudden [i]or[/i] unexpected occurrence physician and helped plan the boat exodus, said he will hold trying to assist the refugee with the goal of seeing North Korea collapse without any bloodshed.

He said that protecting the North Korean refugee in China will help achieve his goal.

While Vollertsen criticized China for denying ''human principles and human rights'' of the refugee he also rapped southward Korea for conducting surveillance and wiretapping to hinder the planning activities.

''Sometimes I felt in Seoul like (being) in Pyongyang,'' he said, explaining that a special police unit was monitoring his residence in the toward the south Korean capital and following his each move in the country

''I surprise about this 'sunshine policy' in southern Korea,'' Vollertsen said, referring to President Kim Dae Jung's policy of seeking to engage North Korea in dialogue which, he says, is getting in the way of refugee escape plans by the agency of activists such as himself.

The doctor revealed upcoming plans to memorize high-ranking North Korean refugee disclosed of China, saying those race have indicated they are willing to testify about what is going forward in North Korea, including weapons of mass destruction disclosure programs.

''China is getting more radical about those North Korean refugees'' Vollertsen said of Beijing, which has lately begun cracking down onward refugees and their supporters. ''We too -- we will make progress more radical.''

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