Jin Gyeong-suk

Korean spelling
Hangeul	진경숙
Revised Romanization	Jin Gyeong-suk
McCune- Reischauer	Chin Kyŏngsuk
See also : Korean name

Jin Gyeong-suk (* June 24, 1980 ; † 2005 ) was a North Korean who managed to escape to South Korea in 2002 and who was forcibly abducted from China back to North Korea two years later .

kidnapping

In August 2004, Jin Gyeong-suk, who now had a South Korean passport, and her husband Mun Jeong-hun traveled to Jilin Province , northern China, on the pretext of a honeymoon . The couple had planned to make a video film about North Korea's involvement in drug deals for a Japanese production company. To do this, they met with an alleged middleman on the Chinese side of the Tumen River , which forms the border between China and North Korea. He was supposed to smuggle a video camera into North Korea in order to make evidence-heavy film recordings. But the encounter turned out to be a trap: Jin and her husband were ambushed by four men disguised as road workers, presumably agents of the North Korean secret service. While the husband was able to get to safety in time, Jin Gyeong-suk was forced into a sack and taken to North Korea via the Tumen. Later research showed that they are in the in the northern province of Hamgyong located Chongjin concentration camp was taken, where she was interrogated and tortured.

Political Consequences

The case contained a certain political volatility for two reasons:

First: Since Jin Gyeong-suk had a South Korean passport, it was about the kidnapping of a South Korean woman from Chinese soil. Thus, South Korea and China were involved in the case. As a North Korean citizen, Jin Gyeong-suk's legal situation would have been different, since China is extraditing refugees to North Korea. Chinese authorities alleged that Jin Gyeong-suk was already in North Korean territory when she was abducted to help her sister escape.

Second, it was debated whether Jin Gyeong-suk had been kidnapped or simply arrested under North Korean law. The law states that foreigners suspected of espionage - and Jin Gyeong-suk was to be regarded as such on the basis of her South Korean passport - can be sentenced to up to seven years in a labor camp . A government official said: "We always warn refugees that China is a dangerous place for them, but such incidents do happen. We cannot understand how to claim the right to travel freely and then try to sell a North Korean video as a North Korean defector . "

Liberation activities

The case caused a sensation in the Asian media. Human rights organizations stepped in and made efforts to release Jin Gyeong-suk or to find out if she was still alive. The family petitioned then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urging Jin Gyeong-suk to be repatriated to South Korea, but without receiving a response from the President.

Jin Gyeong-suk died as a result of torture in Chongjin Camp.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The Chosunilbo: Daily News From Korea article of September 8, 2004: What North Korean Defector kidnapped or arrestet? (in English) Retrieved July 11, 2012.
2. ↑ Daily NK : Former General of People's Army Kidnapped by National Security Agency article dated August 24, 2005 (in English). Retrieved July 11, 2012.
3. ↑ Daily NK : Victims of Abduction, Jin Kyung Sook's Family Petition to the President Article, September 9, 2006 (in English). Retrieved July 11, 2012.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Jin is the family name here, Gyeong-suk is the first name.