| North Korean asylum seeker tells of covert
training for suicide missions
SEAN ROBINSON; The News Tribune
A North Korean man who says he is a former soldier trained to carry
explosives on assassination missions is seeking asylum in the United
States.
His name is Im Yong Cheon, and his current address is the Northwest
Detention Center on the Tacoma Tideflats. Whether he receives asylum
hinges on the outcome of a trial in Tacoma, scheduled for Sept. 28 at the
detention center's immigration court. If Cheon's application is rejected,
he faces deportation. His advocates are Tacoma attorney Thomas Donovan and
Lakewood resident Mandy Ma, an activist in the South Sound's Korean
community.
Cheon's story is being told in Korean newspapers and radio
broadcasts.
"Nationwide, the Korean community is watching right now," said Ma, 50.
"I know what's happening in North Korea. I was educated in North Korea.
North Korea is like a monster."
Statistically, his case is a rare one. According to federal data,
58,439 asylum cases were filed with immigration officials in 2002. Of that
number, only six involved Koreans. In keeping with standard practice,
officials with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would not comment on
Cheon's case.
Documents from the U.S. Department of Justice reveal how Cheon walked
into the arms of the U.S. Border Patrol in Blaine Aug. 8 after crossing
the U.S.-Canada border. When a patrol agent spoke to him, Cheon waved a
piece of paper with words scribbled in Korean and English.
"I am from North Korea. I am a soldier," it said. Another piece of
paper said "Police, North Korea and Korean translator."
Though he spoke no English, Cheon said one word: "asylum."
In his application for asylum, Cheon, 40, said he had been a captain in
the North Korean special forces. "I have been involved with a special
force which has been trained to take a hand-held nuclear bomb across
borders on suicide missions and assassinate VIPs," his statement
reads.
In documents filed with immigration officials, he tells a long and
confusing story. He claims his military service began in 1981, and says
his boss was a cousin to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Cheon says he
was stripped of his rank and sent to a labor camp in 1990 after he was
overheard singing a South Korean song at a party.
From there, he says, he and his wife and daughter escaped to China and
made their way to South Korea, where he became involved with the South
Korean intelligence agency.
"If I return to North Korea, I will be surely killed and tortured
because of my knowledge of the North Korean special forces and my
political opinion, which is now known," he states in Department of Justice
documents.
Donovan, who is arguing Cheon's case, said it won't be difficult to
prove that North Korea is a dictatorial state. The hard part is verifying
Cheon's story.
"Our main problem is getting those documents out of North Korea," he
said. "That's what our challenge is, and I don't know how we're going to
do it."
Donovan predicts that federal attorneys will try to deport Cheon to
South Korea, since the South Korean government regards all North Koreans
as citizens and does not officially recognize the North Korean
government.
"They just want to sidestep the issue," Donovan said.
Ma hopes that legislation moving through Congress will help Cheon's
argument. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the North
Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which designates North Koreans as
deserving "special humanitarian concern," and states that they "are not
pre-emptively disqualified" for asylum consideration because of South
Korea's stance. The House passed the bill July 21 and sent it to the
Senate for consideration.
Meanwhile, Ma is seeking support for Cheon in the Korean community,
raising money for his legal battle and living costs if he is released on
bond before his trial.
"Anyone who stands for their dignity should get support," she says. "I
respect his courage. That's why I'm helping him."
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Published
12:01AM, August 27th, 2004)
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The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA
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