HRW voices concern over probe into 6 US citizens for trying to send rice to N. Korea

Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based human rights organization, has expressed concern regarding the investigation of six U.S. citizens who attempted to send money, rice and Bibles to North Korea last week. Lina Yoon, a senior researcher on the Korean Peninsula at HRW, raised the alarm following the brief detention of the activists by South Korean police on June 27. They were accused of violating an administrative order that bans sending any materials across the inter-Korean border, a measure enacted due to safety concerns for local residents. “The South Korean authorities’ use of a disaster-safety law to stop any North Korea-related border activity could deter groups that are trying to safely provide useful information to ordinary North Koreans. The government should not be discouraging careful, quiet outreach that allows North Koreans one of their few links to the outside world,” Yoon told The Korea Times recently. Their attempt to send the materials to the North has come as the liberal Lee Jae Myung government has been seeking engagement with Pyongyang. The activists atteWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times