The ordeal of a N. Korean in Canada

"..... but 22 million of their countrymen remain trapped, at the mercy of the most evil government on earth. Learn what is happening to them. Cry out in protest. This is not a time for silence. "

This should have been the attitiude with Iraq a year ago. Why is North Korea so different in the eyes of the world?

Ok Canadians
Guantanamo Bay=War Crimes but North Korea=Communist Paradise. This is sick.

My suggestion is for Ri to quickly convert to islam and express a ferverent desire to blow up the CN Tower. My guess is that Canada would welcome him with open arms.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

N. Korean defector can stay

BY MARINA JIMENEZ
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Tears of joy and relief streamed down the elegant face of Song Dae Ri, as the North Korean defector celebrated an 11th-hour reprieve that will allow him to stay in Canada with his six-year-old son.

Ending months of uncertainty, the office of Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan stayed Mr. Ri's removal order yesterday and ruled he is not a war criminal — contrary to the findings of the Immigration and Refugee Board, which rejected his asylum bid last September.

The ministry ruled that the risk Mr. Ri would be tortured or killed if deported outweighed any danger he may pose to Canada.

"I felt like I was in hell and now I'm on my way to heaven," Mr. Ri said. "I want to thank Canada for saving my life. I never was a war criminal and I am happy that someone in the government can take this rock off my back. I want to raise my son to believe in truth and justice. He will see we were treated fairly, even though it took so long to get to the right conclusion."

Dressed in his customary black turtleneck, dark tailored suit and trench coat, the 37-year-old former trade official mopped his brow with a red handkerchief, and bowed his head solemnly.

His son Chang-Il, who goes by the name Joshua, gave the thumb's up, and said through mouthfuls of ice cream that the decision to allow his father to stay was "good."

The temporary-resident permit granted to Mr. Ri Wednesday does not give him permanent status in Canada but means he is now a protected person who cannot be deported, said Robert Moorhouse, representing Mr. Ri.

He is waiting for the Immigration Minister to rule on a humanitarian appeal, which would allow him to become a permanent resident.

Mr. Ri and his family defected to Canada in August, 2001, fleeing Beijing where Mr. Ri was posted as a trade official at the North Korean embassy.

The controversial handling of Mr. Ri's asylum bid prompted criticism from human-rights groups and immigration experts in Canada, Seoul and around the world after The Globe and Mail first published details of his case last month.

Immigration and Refugee Board member Bonnie Milliner accepted Mr. Ri's son as a refugee but found the father did not deserve Canada's protection.

She ruled he was complicit in crimes against humanity simply for being a member of Kim Jong-il's government. Canada's war-crimes unit had found no evidence Mr. Ri had committed such crimes.

Before Mr. Ri could be returned home, the government had to assess the risk to his life.

Initially the Canadian Border Services agency concluded in a 16-page report last month that Mr. Ri should be allowed to stay in Canada because he'd be executed for treason if returned.

However, a more senior official with Citizenship and Immigration Canada disagreed, saying Mr. Ri was not entitled to Canada's protection because he was guilty of war crimes.

Ms. McLellan's office — the final arbiter in the case — found that he was not a war criminal.

"Immigration officials refused to intervene in the IRB Convention refugee process indicating that, in their opinion, Mr. Ri was in fact not complicit in the commission of crimes against humanity or war crimes," assistant deputy minister Lyse Ricard said in the prerisk removal assessment.

G. C. Alldridge, another department official, also concluded in the report that it would be in the best interests of Joshua to have his father remain in Canada. Mr. Alldridge said that had Ms. Milliner not found Mr. Ri to be complicit in war crimes, "there is sufficient credible evidence to establish a well-founded fear of persecution by reason of political opinion."

"There is no disagreement that Mr. Ri's spouse returned to North Korea and was most probably executed ..... and other family members in North Korea may have suffered. I understand his father may also have been executed," according to the decision.

Mr. Ri's wife was conflicted about her decision to defect, and returned to North Korea in December, 2001. She was executed four months later. Mr. Ri says his father was also killed in retaliation for his defection, in keeping with the 's policy of "wiping out" families of defectors for three generations to come.

Mr. Ri traded commodities in Beijing and became fearful for his life after a colleague overheard him praising the West and criticizing the excesses of the North Korean regime.

Yesterday, Mr. Moorhouse said the government realized its mistake.

"The government has finally realized the errors made in the case and Mr. Ri is finally getting the justice and treatment he deserves," Mr. Moorhouse said. "The ministry can't overturn an IRB decision, so what they have done is to agree with their own war-crimes unit that Mr. Ri is not a war criminal or a risk to Canadian society."

Mr. Moorhouse filed request for the prerisk removal assessment only 30 days ago, and it normally takes as long as eight months for a decision to be rendered.

The speedy resolution of his case came as an immense relief to Mr. Ri, who has been living in seclusion with his son in Toronto. Now he feels he can "come out of the darkness," begin attending church again and re-enroll his son in school.

Wednesday night, the family savoured their victory with Mr. Moorhouse and their translator, celebrating over Korean food and a new Canadian passion: Labatt's Blue.

"Canada will protect me now. I feel safe again," said Mr. Ri, giving his son's shoulders a squeeze and breaking into a rare smile.

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Cry out in protest. This is not a time for silence....

It is if you're a Democrat.

They care about "Two Americas" but not "Two Koreas".

The next time any Canadian wishes to lecture me about how "backward" we Americans are, or about how we deny people their basic human rights, I will mention the name of Bonnie Milliner.

The next time any Canadian wishes to lecture me about how "backward" we Americans are,
or about how we deny people their basic human rights, I will mention the name
of Bonnie Milliner.

Bears repeating...

His wife, browbeaten by her Japanese parents for her "betrayal," attempted to commit suicide, then agreed to leave her husband and son and return to North Korea.

My guess is that her parents were not Japanese, but among the many North Koreans living in Japan.

AIT, do you know anything about this ?

Now he feels he can "come out of the darkness," begin attending church again and re-enroll his son in school.

This man became a Christian somehow, possibly during his stay in China.

It's the pits that he'll be executed, but we do the same thing with Cubans, and while they may not be executed, I'm sure that they don't have the red carpet rolled out for them.

Do you people not get it? He was going to be deported based on the suspicion of his involvement in war crimes. The suspicions were proven wrong, so now he can stay here with his son. He's not being deported.