North Korean Fighting for His Love in Russia

Ten years ago, Jeong Kum Cheol was working in Siberia, as a dispatched North Korean construction worker. One day, he managed to escape from the tightly controlled North Korean construction site, married a Russian woman, had a son, and then moved to Moscow. The Russian authorities rejected his application for adjustment of status. He was apprehended for living in Russia as an illegal alien and was subsequently almost deported to North Korea. While the deportation procedures were under way, he managed to escape from the custody of the Russian police,contact the UNHCR in the Far East, and apply for asylum in Russia. He is currently appealing the rejection of his first asylum application, while staying at a UNHCR safe house in Moscow, together with his wife and three-year old son. However, he fears for his safety in Russia and has been in touch with the South Korean Embassy in Moscow. Jeong Kum Cheol and his family might now be close to fulfilling their dream of finding freedom, if they leave for South Korea. For several years, Jeong Kum Cheol bribed the local officials to be allowed to live and work as an illegal alien around Orenburg, about 1,600 kms southeast of Moscow, close to the border with Kazakhstan. However, once his son was born, he realized that working as a manual laborer was not enough to provide his family an adequate standard of living, and decided to relocate to Moscow, in search of better opportunities. Once in Moscow, he quickly understood that such opportunities were unavailable to illegal aliens, and decided to visit the Moscow Immigration Office to apply for legal residence.

Soon after his visit to the Moscow Immigration Office, Mr. Jeong went missing. At that stage, RFA was in touch with a Russian human rights NGO that was trying to help Mr. Jeong. Back then, it was feared that Mr. Jeong’s disappearance might mean that he had been forcibly repatriated to North Korea. Actually, while in Khabarovsk, en route to being deported to North Korea, he narrowly and spectacularly escaped from the custody of the Russian authorities by jumping off the roof of a four-story building. Then, he immediately contacted the UNHCR office in Vladivostok, and applied for asylum in Russia.

Mr. Jeong’s application for asylum has been rejected once, but the appeal is pending, and according to Russian law, he can even be lawfully employed, while that application is still pending. He is not in danger of being deported while the appeal is pending, but nevertheless he fears for his personal safety. Consequently, Mr. Jeong has made up his mind to take his family to South Korea, and has been in touch with the South Korean Embassy in Moscow. As evidenced by initial RFA reporting, it was not clear whether his Russian wife would follow him to South Korea, but by now it has become apparent that she will follow her husband to South Korea. Mr. Jeong is the first North Korean defector to apply for asylum in Russia, but there have been about 10 instances of North Korean defectors going from Russia to third countries.

by Myeong Hwa Jang, November 23, 2007
Translated by Grigore Scarlatoiu

Photo: Ian Beeby