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Japanese NGO Activist Missing in China
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (01.11.2002)/
HRWF (01.11.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net -
Email info@hrwf.net - Mr. Hiroshi Kato (age 57), who
arrived in Dalian, China on Oct. 29, 2002 to carry out
activities for our NGO (LFNKR), disappeared after
leaving the Tian-Fu Hotel in Dalian on the morning of
Oct. 30.
anything from him since the morning of the 30th.
Our NGO, "Life Funds for North Korean Refugees," is a
Japan-based organization, which, as the name suggests,
is engaged in helping North Korean refugees.
We have done our best to locate Mr. Kato, but we still
cannot find him, and none of our friends or contacts
in that area has been able to locate him. This is a
matter of grave concern.
We envision two possibilities.
One is that Mr. Kato has been detained by Chinese
police for some reason. If so, we strongly urge the
Chinese authorities to immediately investigate this
matter and locate Mr. Kato, and explain in detail why
he has been detained.
Another possibility is that Mr. Kato has been
illegally detained or abducted by a North Korean
agency, which is active behind the scenes in the
Northeast area of China. If so, we demand that they
release him immediately.
The Chinese authorities must observe the international
rules governing human rights and humanity and promptly
effect his release.
As a small NGO engaged in the humanitarian rescue of
North Korean refugees, we cannot tolerate barbaric
behavior such as the possible abduction of our staff
member.
We appeal to all people of conscience, including NGOs
and journalists worldwide - please help us.
Kenkichi Nakadaira
Representative
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com
--
Vincent Brossel
Asia - Pacific Desk
Reporters Sans Frontières
5 rue Geoffroy Marie
75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 70
33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax)
asia@rsf.org
www.rsf.org
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