News 1

Defectors agonizingly close to freedom sent back to North Korean nightmare

Seoul (CNN) -- "Pack your bags you're going to South Korea." These are the words nine young North Korean defectors had waited years to hear having traveled thousands of miles. Unfortunately it was a lie. The tragic story of this group of youngsters aged between 15 and 23 takes us back a few years when one by one they managed to cross the heavily-guarded border from North Korea into China to search for food. Most of them were orphans, while others had a parent unable or unwilling to look after them. A South Korean missionary living in China, known only as M.J. to protect his identity, tried to help the youngsters and has broken his silence to CNN. "This one child used to live with his father," he explained. "One day his father went into a North Korean military base trying to find food but was caught and beaten to death on the spot. The child witnessed this ... his mother then told him not to come home and threw rocks at him to keep him away." Rodents 'a luxury' The youngsters survived by foraging for scraps in trashcans. Fish bones and discarded rice were mixed to make a porridge, while rodents were considered a luxury. When M.J. first met some of them in December 2009, they had frostbite on their hands and toes from living in an old abandoned building where temperatures plummeted to as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Some of them had injuries from beatings by security guards and merchants when they were caught stealing food. One of the nine, a 20-year-old man, told M.J. he wanted to live in China as "even beggars in China do not go hungry." "These kids were suffering from malnutrition and disease," recalled M.J. "They had been living in quarters with bad sanitation ... also they all seemed to have suffered in one form or another from tuberculosis. Because they were suffering from malnutrition, their growth was stunted." READ MORE: Report describes North Korea 'atrocities' M.J. and his wife offered to help the youngsters leave China for Laos -- a landlocked country in South-East Asia -- and then onto a third country, perhaps South Korea or the United States to claim asylum. It is a route that is well traveled by defectors, and the missionary couple had already helped other North Koreans escape to a better life that way.

Living in fear The nine lived with the couple and several other North Korean defectors in China for almost two years in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities. They could never leave the house during this time. China doesn't treat North Koreans in its territory as refugees and usually sends them back across the border. "The children had been fugitives for a long time so they were used to this situation," he said. "We had a bed which was buttressed with quite a few books on the bottom as legs. The kids would go under the bed and kick out the books, so the bed would sit low and it would not look like anyone was hiding under it." The couple tried to organize adoptive parents for the youngsters in the United States but without success. And so the long trip to the Laos border began. The youngsters experienced some firsts along the way: One defector celebrated his birthday for the very first time; they visited an amusement park, which was a new experience; and they played barefoot on a beach for the first time. Finally, they were able to enjoy simple pleasures many children across the world take for granted. READ MORE: Reunited after 40 years "As we lived with these children, I saw them change," M.J.'s wife, who also asked not to be identified, said. "They started having hopes, they started dreaming and I know they were happier. I was overjoyed to have done something worthwhile." The escape After successfully getting six other defectors out of the country to safety via other routes, the missionary couple paid a broker to transport the remaining nine across the China-Laos border because they had no papers or passports. On about May 10 this year, they embarked on a journey that would take them through the jungle in the dead of night to avoid detection. This journey would ordinarily take 40 minutes, according to the missionaries, but this time it took four hours due to heavier than usual border security that day. But crossing the border proved to be the easy part. On a bus en route to the capital, an unexpected police search changed the course of events. The youngsters were detained and then investigated for more than two weeks by Laotian immigration officials because of their lack of paperwork. M.J. admitted the police search surprised him as it had never happened with previous refugees he had helped pass through the country.

If we don't pay attention, if we don't keep asking where these children are, then these children will be lost forever and we will never know what happened to

them.
M.J.

M.J.'s wife said they repeatedly called the South Korean Embassy in Laos for help. "We pled our case with the embassy because this was not just about one life but nine lives of young people ... for the embassy it was extra work and a burden to them and why should they care about these children from North Korea?" M.J. said embassy officials told them to wait and do nothing to jeopardize things as Laos authorities were working to process the youngsters. He said no-one from the embassy visited them in eighteen days. Bitter truth On May 27, the Laos authorities told the youngsters to pack as they were being sent to South Korea. M.J. said they were so happy they all shouted for joy. Years in hiding seemed to finally be over. But the bitter truth of the situation soon became clear. The missionary couple was prevented from following the children and instead locked in a room at the immigration offices for two hours. The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, said the group had been sent back to North Korea via China. READ MORE: Defector lives with quarter of a century of guilt Human rights groups were shocked. The missionaries were devastated. "In these children's minds, they were going to South Korea," said M.J.'s wife. "They never imagined after crossing the border to Laos they would be sent back to North Korea." The children have since been used for propaganda purposes in Pyongyang, appearing on state-run television in June claiming they had been tricked into leaving North Korea and expressing thanks to leader Kim Jong Un for saving them and bringing them back. "What I am concerned about is what is going to happen after the propaganda is gone and the rhetoric is over," said M.J. "If we don't pay attention, if we don't keep asking where these children are, then these children will be lost forever and we will never know what happened to them." Laos was widely criticized for its actions by the U.N. and human rights groups but insists the youngsters were in their country illegally and that the missionaries were effectively human traffickers. South Korea's foreign ministry told CNN it prioritizes the life and safety of North Korean defectors and is "inspecting the problems revealed from this incident and has improved and strengthened the overall support system." But M.J. and his wife fear for the nine youngsters, who dreamed of a life without hunger and fear.

News 2

Source: Off-duty police officer among bikers who saw SUV driver beaten
New York (CNN) -- A New York police officer saw much of a confrontation between fellow motorcyclists and a Range Rover driver -- which ended with five injured, including the SUV driver -- but didn't step in, a law enforcement source said. The police officer, who works undercover, was off-duty and riding with the motorcycle club he belongs to when the incident occurred Sunday. But he didn't tell his superiors about what happened until Wednesday, the source said. It's not clear why the officer waited so long to report what he saw. The officer, who has hired a lawyer, is being investigated by the New York Police Department's internal affairs unit. But he may not have been legally obligated to immediately intervene, according to the same source. Asked about this officer, Deputy Police Commissioner John McCarthy declined comment, saying only, "The investigation is ongoing." The Manhattan district attorney's office, which is pursuing the case, also didn't comment. However, it appears likely that prosecutors, at a minimum, will want to interview the officer as a witness. The off-duty officer being in the middle of the mix is the latest twist in a saga that's raised questions, and stirred debate, around New York and beyond. Police say the incident -- some of which was captured on video -- began Sunday afternoon when a man driving his wife and their 2-year-old daughter in a Range Rover on Manhattan's West Side Highway struck a motorcycle, which had slowed in front of his SUV. This cyclist was slightly injured. When Alexian Lien, the SUV driver, pulled to a stop, other bikers surrounded the vehicle, hit it and spiked its tires, police said. Lien then pulled away, plowing into three more bikers, including Edwin Mieses, who was critically injured. On the video, which was shot from one of the riders' helmet cameras, it's around then, as the Range Rover stops further north on the road that runs all along the western side of Manhattan, that a man got off his motorcycle, police spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves said Friday. This helmeted man -- who Nieves identified Friday as 35-year-old Robert Sims -- then walks quickly over to the SUV and opens the driver's door. Lien then drives off north, with his door slightly open, according to Nieves. After a chase, the motorcyclists corner the SUV. The video shows one biker using his helmet to smash the driver's side window.

Police said the bikers then dragged Lien from the vehicle and beat him. His wife and daughter were unharmed. Several questioned, one arrested and charged Sims was questioned Friday by police, presumably about why he allegedly walk up the Range Rover and opened one of its doors. He drove to a Brooklyn police station voluntarily and is not under arrest, Nieves said. Authorities said late Thursday they'd identified, and will soon apprehend, what appears to be a different motorcyclist who played a role in Lien's beating, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. This biker is suspected of bashing in the driver's window, according to the official. Police previously arrested Christopher Cruz, the biker seen slowing in front of the Range Rover before being bumped. Cruz, 28, was in court Wednesday on misdemeanor charges including reckless driving. He was released after posting $1,500 cash bail and a $15,000 insurance bond. In addition, his license was suspended, and he was ordered to surrender his passport. Cruz is not guilty, according to his lawyer. "His motorcycle was struck, and he stood right there," his attorney H. Benjamin Perez said. "He never assaulted this man. He never tried to assault him in any way. And he does not know any of the other motorcyclists who were involved in this beating." A second biker was released Wednesday when authorities determined that he may have been trying to help. Mieses' family says he is the real victim. "All of his ribs are fractured. His lungs are so badly bruised that he's still on a ventilator," Yolanda Santiago, his mother, told CNN affiliate WCBS. Mieses' wife, Dayana, told CNN affiliate WBZ that he got off his bike to help the SUV driver. She blamed Lien. "He got scared, he peeled off, and he paralyzed my husband on the way," she said. The motorcyclist who shot helmet-cam video of the incident has been questioned by police, who seized the raw video of the incident from his home in Bellport, on Long Island. An edited version of the video, which authorities say ended moments before Lien was pulled from his vehicle, had been posted on the Internet. SUV driver acted 'to protect the lives' of his family Lien was treated at a hospital for slashes to his face. The family was on an outing to celebrate the couple's wedding anniversary, Lien's wife said Thursday in a written statement. "My husband was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family," she said.

"We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently, and we believe that anyone faced with this sort of grave danger would have taken the same course of action in order to protect their family." It was Lien's wife who made the last of three 911 calls the family placed during the incident, CNN has learned. New video emerged Thursday showing bikers riding on sidewalks before Sunday's rally. It prompted state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York City, to call for stricter enforcement of traffic laws. "I don't see why you can have 500 motorcycles that are doing wheelies and that are out of control stopping traffic, totally stopping traffic in the highway or in some streets and doing whatever they want," he told reporters about the video, which his office released. Bikers have called for Lien to be charged. "That wasn't fear, that was aggression -- he ran over three bikes," a man who identified himself as Jose told reporters Thursday night. "Are we saying, if you feel nervous you can kill somebody? You can paralyze somebody? I think we need to charge him immediately." Another biker called for cool heads to prevail. "We are not here to blame anyone, we are not here to point any fingers," Albert Elkerson said. "The true question is how could we have avoided what happened last Sunday, and what can we do to prevent that."

News 3

Turkish government guilty of human rights abuses, group says

Istanbul (CNN) -- Turkish authorities' use of live ammunition, tear gas, beatings and sexual assaults to crush street protests earlier this year constitute "human rights violations on a massive scale," according to a report by human rights watchdog Amnesty International. Amnesty documented cases of Turkish riot police firing plastic bullets and tear gas canisters at the heads of protesters. It also accused police of sexually abusing female demonstrators and of severely beating and shooting protesters with live ammunition, resulting in the deaths of two men in separate incidents. The report, released Wednesday, focused on the turmoil that erupted in May and June, when police tried to put down an environmentalist sit-in. Demonstrators had staged an Occupy Wall Street-style protest over government plans to demolish Istanbul's Gezi Park and replace it with a shopping mall.

"The levels of violence used by police in the course of Gezi Park protests clearly show what happens when poorly trained, poorly supervised police officers are instructed to use force -- and encouraged to use it unsparingly -- safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely ever to be identified or prosecuted for their abuses," said Amnesty International's Turkey expert, Andrew Gardner. The Turkish government has launched an investigation into the possible excess use of force. At least one police officer from a counter-terrorism unit is standing trial along with other suspects for beating a protester named Ali Ismail Korkmaz in the Turkish city of Eskisehir. The 19-year-old university student later died as a result of his injuries. Government announces democratic reforms Amnesty International's report emerged two days after the Turkish government unveiled a long-awaited series of reforms, which the rights group said fails "to address these violations or to take any serious steps to ensure that they will not occur in the future." Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan applauded what he called the "democratization package," declaring it a historic moment for the country. The legislation lifts the ban on women wearing Islamic headscarves in public institutions. However, women serving as police officers, judges or military personnel are still not allowed to wear headscarves. The reforms also removed the ban on teaching the Kurdish language, and ended the ban of the Kurdish letters "q," "x" and "w," which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet. However, Kurdish can only be taught in private schools, even though it is the language spoken by Turkey's largest ethnic minority. Another change called for expanding the definition and punishment for hate crimes committed on the basis of ethnicity or religious belief. The democratization package quickly inspired a chorus of criticism from a wide range of ethnic, religious and political groups. "This is more of an election package," said Sebahat Tuncel, a lawmaker from the main Kurdish opposition party, referring to municipal elections expected to be held in 2014. "This package could have lifted the obstacles to democratization. It could have lifted barriers to freedom of the press, to freedom of expression and amended the anti-terror laws," Tuncel added. Thousands of Kurds have been arrested in recent years, accused of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militants have been fighting a guerrilla war for the past 30 years against the Turkish state. Erdogan's government has tried to bring an end to the simmering conflict by launching negotiations with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. The peace talks have prompted some of the PKK's thousands of fighters to voluntarily leave Turkey for neighboring Iraq.

Meanwhile, women's groups and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual activists are upset that the reforms did not include reference to hate crimes committed on the basis of gender or sexual orientation. Though Erdogan offered to create a cultural institute for Turkey's Roma minority and promised to return a government-seized monastery to the Assyrian Christians, he stopped short of reopening the Halki Seminary, which traditionally educated the country's top Greek Orthodox clergy. For decades, members of Turkey's dwindling Greek community, as well as many Western governments, have called for Turkey to lift its ban on Halki. "I think it is a step forward and the government says more will come," wrote Suat Kiniklioglu, a former lawmaker from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in an e-mail to CNN. "However, the real issue in Turkey is political and cultural polarization. I wish the package would address issues such as freedom of expression and pluralism." Turkish president calls for reform Turkey's president warned about the threats this polarization posed in an address before the Turkish parliament Tuesday. "I viewed the peaceful demonstrations of the young people at Gezi Park... as a new manifestation of our democratic maturity," said Abdullah Gul. Gul argued that Turkey still had a long way to go in its democratization process. "The effective and efficient operation of executive, legislative and judicial powers; the existence of a serious, constructive and strong opposition; a free, critical, impartial and independent media are of utmost importance for a country's democratic development," he said in his speech to lawmakers. Gul has been a loyal ally of Erdogan through the prime minister's decade in office. But as his term in the largely symbolic post of president draws to a close, Gul has increasingly challenged some of Erdogan's more controversial policies. The increasingly divergent political positions have prompted widespread speculation that Gul may be preparing to submit himself as a candidate to be the next prime minister of Turkey.