Son Jong-nam
Son Jong-nam | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | 손정남 |
---|---|
Hancha | 孫正男 |
Revised Romanization | Son Jeongnam |
McCune–Reischauer | Son Chǒngnam |
Son Jong-nam (11 March 1958 – 7 December 2008) was a North Korean defector and Christian missionary, who died in a Pyongyang prison after being arrested in 2006.[1]
Early life
Son was born in
Defection
In January 1998, Son took his wife and daughter and fled North Korea, joining his brother in
Final return to North Korea
Son did not remain in China for long; he soon returned to North Korea with Bibles and cassette tapes in an effort to proselytise people in his home country. However, in January 2006, police found the Bibles at his home in Hoeryong and arrested him again.[1] According to his brother, the charges were illegal border crossing, meeting with enemies of the state, and disseminating anti-state literature.[3] Son was imprisoned in the basement of the State Security Department in Pyongyang.[2]
In April, his brother submitted a petition to South Korea's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to halt his public execution, and held a press conference criticising the NHRC for their inaction on issues of human rights in North Korea. However, NHRC officials stated that the petition was without effect because North Korea was not subject to their intervention.[2] Christian Solidarity Worldwide also planned a protest in front of the North Korean embassy in London around the same time as Son's brother submitted his petition.[2] In July, Son's brother went on to meet with the United States Department of State officials and members of Congress to discuss his brother's case, including senator Sam Brownback, Jim Inhofe of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and Richard Lugar of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.[3] Todd Nettleton of American Christian organisation Voice of the Martyrs also attempted to organise people in the United States and South Korea to bring international pressure to bear on the North Korean government over the issue of Son's imprisonment.[4]
Son's brother believes that the international pressure led North Korean authorities to cancel his public execution, only to switch to torturing him to death as a less public method of killing him. According to a November 2009 statement from a fellow State Security Department prison inmate, Son died there on December 7, 2008.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Kim, Hyung-jin (5 July 2010), "AP Exclusive: NKorean killed for spreading Gospel", Associated Press, archived from the original on 9 July 2010, retrieved 8 July 2010
- ^ a b c d Kim, Yong-hun (30 April 2006), "'Halt Public Execution in North Korea', Petition to South Korean National Human Rights Commission", Daily NK, retrieved 8 July 2010
- ^ a b Lamm, Ari (13 July 2007), "Race To Save a Korean Christian: Congress Gets Appeal as Execution Nears", The New York Sun, archived from the original on 5 March 2010, retrieved 8 July 2010
- ^ "Houses of the Hidden", Newsweek, 28 September 2007, retrieved 8 July 2010