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N. Korea defector to sue Chongryon over emigration program+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, June 8_(Kyodo) _ A woman who fled North Korea and lives in Osaka Prefecture will file an 11 million yen damages suit this weekend against the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, over its responsibility for a program that promoted the emigration of Korean residents of Japan to North Korea, sources familiar with the case said Sunday. Yumiko Chiba, a 47-year-old woman who moved to North Korea in 1963 under the program and defected from the country in 2003, will file the suit with the Osaka District Court, insisting that she suffered physical and mental pain in a North Korean concentration camp because the pro-North Korea group neglected to explain the reality of the situation in North Korea, the sources said. Chiba, who moved to North Korea with her parents, Korean residents of Japan, attempted to flee the country in 2000 but was found by North Korean authorities and taken to a concentration camp where she was tortured, the sources said. Some women who also fled North Korea, including Japanese nationals, are considering filing a similar suit with the Tokyo District Court against Chongryon in connection with the program, the sources said. Regarding the program which ran from 1959 to 1984, a man in South Korea who had defected from North Korea filed a damages suit with the Tokyo District Court against Chongryon in 2001. But his claim was dismissed because his right to seek damages was ruled to have expired as he fled from North Korea about 40 years ago. After the end of World War II, some Korean people who had been brought to Japan under Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula hoped to move to North Korea. Since North Korea has no diplomatic ties with Japan, the emigration program started under a deal between the Red Cross societies in the two countries. Chongryon encouraged the emigration of Korean residents of Japan to North Korea. Those who moved to North Korea under the program also included Japanese nationals, including spouses and children of Korean residents of Japan. Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc. |