Shin Suk-yes

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Korean spelling
Hangeul 신 숙자
Hanja 申淑子
Revised
Romanization 		Sin Suk-yes
McCune-
Reischauer 		Sin Sukja

Shin Suk-ja (also Shin Sook-ja; * 1942 in Tongyeong , Chōsen , former Japanese Empire , today's South Korea ; † November 23, 2008 in Pyongyang , North Korea ) was a South Korean political prisoner in a North Korean internment camp . She was married to Oh Kil-nam ( kor. 오길남 ) and had two daughters Oh Hye-won ( 오 혜원 , also Oh Hae-Won) and Oh Kyu-won ( 오규원 , also Oh Gyu-Won). In 1985 the entire family was lured to North Korea by North Korean agents with false promises of medical treatment and a coveted job in the civil service. When Oh Kil-nam did not return from a trip from Europe , Shin Suk-ja and her daughters were deported to the Yodŏk Detention Center in 1987 .

Life

Shin was born in Tongyeong, Keishō-nandō when Korea was a province of Japan , and attended elementary and middle school there. From 1958 she studied nursing at the Masan Nursing School . In 1970 she emigrated to Germany to work as a nurse in Tübingen . There she met Oh Kil-nam, a student of economics , and the couple married in 1972. They later moved to the vicinity of Kiel , where their two daughters Oh Hye-won (on September 17, 1976) and Oh Kyu-won ( on June 21, 1978). Until 1985 the family lived together in Kronshagen near Kiel and the children went to school there and took violin lessons.

Lured to North Korea

In 1985, Ms. Shin had hepatitis and was injured in a traffic accident. North Korean agents promised the family free first-class treatment and a professorship at Pyongyang University . Shin didn't want to go to North Korea, but her husband ignored her concerns and the family moved to North Korea.

Their fate is similar to that of tens of thousands of Koreans living in Japan who were lured to North Korea with false promises. The most prominent example is the family of Kang Chol-hwan .

Life in North Korea

In North Korea, none of the promises were fulfilled. Instead, the family was sent to an army indoctrination camp and had to study the Juche ideology and the writings of Kim Il-sung . Then Oh and Shin had to work at a radio station that broadcast North Korean propaganda programs to South Korea . Oh Kil-nam was later sent to Germany to recruit more South Korean students for North Korea, but his family was not allowed to come. Oh recalls that his wife slapped him in the face when he said he was bringing South Korean students to North Korea and told him, “We have to face the consequences of our wrong choice, but you can't victimize others and just leave. Our daughters should not become the daughters of hated accomplices. If you can escape this land then try to save us, but if you can't, then consider us dead. "

Oh Kil-nam applied for political asylum in Denmark in 1986 on the way to Germany . In 1987, Shin and her daughters (aged 9 and 11) were deported to Yodŏk Detention Center , apparently because her husband was not returning to North Korea. North Korean mediators gave Oh letters from his wife and daughters in 1988 and 1989, as well as a cassette tape with their voices and six photos of the Yodŏk family in 1991. Some of the photos have been published. An Hyuk and Kang Chol-hwan , both North Korean refugees and former prisoners in Yodŏk camp, have confirmed that Shin was still alive at the time of their own release, despite several suicide attempts.

Unconfirmed rumors suggest that Shin was temporarily transferred to another camp in September 2011, and that she refused to take an oath of allegiance on Kim Jong-il despite her poor health .

However, in 2012 it became known that Shin Suk-ja was reportedly released from Yodok Detention Center in 1998.

Campaigns to liberate Shin Suk-ja

Amnesty International launched a campaign in 1993 to free Shin and her daughters from Yodŏk camp. On the basis of all available information, Amnesty International believes that Shin Sook Ja and her daughters were detained because Oh Kil-nam applied for political asylum abroad. Amnesty International considers Shin and her daughters to be political prisoners and is demanding that the North Korean authorities release them immediately and unconditionally. But the North Korean authorities have not even confirmed her whereabouts.

Human rights activists in Shin's hometown launched the "Save the Daughter of Tongyeong City" campaign in April 2011, which was reported in South Korea and around the world, and collected over 70,000 signatures for the release of Shin and her daughters.

In November 2011, Amnesty International accepted Ms. Shin and the other political prisoners from Yodŏk camp into the “Write for Rights” letter campaign.

death

According to North Korean information from May 8 and June 15, 2012, Shin Suk-ja is said to have died in the meantime. A document issued by Pyongyang Military Hospital 695 states that Shin died of cirrhosis of the liver on November 23, 2008 in her home near the Defense Ministry after she was reportedly released from Yodŏk Detention Center in 1998 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b North reports death of Shin Suk Ja , Daily NK, May 8, 2012 (accessed July 25, 2012).
  2. ↑ North Korea: Disappearances of Political Prisoners and Their Families. International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), accessed October 27, 2011 .
  3. ↑ a b Campaign seeks to save SK woman from NK prison camp. Dong-a Ilbo , August 6, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  4. ↑ a b North Korea: Fear of “disappearance” of Shin Sook Ja (and her daughters), pp. 5-8. Amnesty International, January 1, 1994, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Save Oh Sisters !! (No longer available online.) Free the NK Gulag, archived from the original on April 24, 2012 ; accessed on October 27, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eng.nkgulag.org
  6. ^ A family and a conscience, destroyed by North Korea's cruelty. Washington Post, February 22, 2010, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Story of Dr. Oh Kil Nam and His Family. International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), October 27, 2011, accessed on November 11, 2011 .
  8. ↑ 'Please fight for my wife, daughters'. The Korea Times , August 17, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  9. ^ A b Document - North Korea: Summary of Amnesty International's Concerns (Section 2.2 Shin Sook Ja and her daughters). Amnesty International, January 1994, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  10. ^ A b Groups gather in Japan to save S. Korean prisoner in N. Korea. The Korea Herald , September 6, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  11. ↑ 아내 • 두 딸 을 북한 에 두고 탈출 한 오길남 박사. (No longer available online.) Monthly Chosun Ilbo , March 9, 2011, archived from the original on February 21, 2012 ; Retrieved October 27, 2011 (Korean). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chosun.com
  12. ↑ The former defector's family in North Korea is alive. KBS World, September 20, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  13. ↑ 'Daughter of Tongyeong'. The Korea Times, September 22, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  14. ^ A b Evidence of Shin Suk Ja's passing grows , Daily NK, June 15, 2012 (accessed July 25, 2012).
  15. ^ A City Waiting for Its Daughter Back. Daily NK , September 9, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  16. ↑ Shin Suk Ja Movement Gaining Traction. Daily NK , September 25, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
  17. ↑ North Korea: Thousands held in Secret Camps. (No longer available online.) Amnesty International, November 2011, archived from the original on November 20, 2011 ; accessed on November 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amnestyusa.org
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Shin is the family name here, Suk-ja is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Shin, Suk-yes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 신 숙자 (Hangeul); 申淑子 (Hanja); Sin, Suk-ja (Revised Romanization); Sin, Sukja (McCune-Reischauer); Shin, Sook-ja (alternative transcription)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean prisoners in a North Korean internment camp
DATE OF BIRTH 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Tongyeong
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 2008
Place of death Pyongyang