The following two news items talk about how a Chinese citizen of North Korean descent provided humanitarian aid to two Christian North Koreans in 2002, and how he was finally able to get asylum here in the United States. In some ways this story is unbelievable, and in another it's the sign of the times.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals yesterday revived the claim of one of three Chinese nationals of
North Korean descent who sought asylum based upon alleged persecution for
rendering humanitarian aid to North Korean refugees in China.
Ruling that the Board of
Immigration Appeals’ finding that Chinese authorities’ alleged arrest and
torture of Xun Li as a valid prosecution for a criminal act of harboring
foreign citizens rather than persecution on account of political opinion lacked
substantial evidence, the court granted Li relief.
The court rejected the
consolidated petitions of the two other nationals, Xiangzhe Cui and He Yun
Fang, in unpublished memoranda.
Read the full article.
Meanwhile, CBS 5 reported this about Li.
Li, a Chinese citizen of North Korean descent, said he was asked
by his Christian pastor to provide shelter to two Christian North Koreans in
2002. He said Chinese police beat and kicked him, stripped him to his
underwear and left him in below-freezing temperature, and sent him to a labor
camp where other inmates beat him.
The appeals court said that according to U.S. State Department figures, up to 50,000 North Koreans have been driven by famine and repression to flee to China.
The appeals court noted that a U.S. law passed in 2004, the North Korean Human Rights Act, sets a policy of encouraging aid to North Korean refugees.
The court said it would be "an odd form of justice" if Li took actions consistent with U.S. policy "and yet, when persecuted on that basis, was declared unfit to seek asylum here in the United States."
The case was sent back to an immigration judge for further proceedings. The panel said there is a presumption that Li "has a well-founded fear of future persecution" in China, but that U.S. Justice Department lawyers could try to argue that conditions in China have changed.
Please take a few minutes to pray for those suffering in North Korea,
China and for the Lord to open up a way of escape for those who need
deliverance.