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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 003891 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2016 
TAGS: PREF PRUM KTIP KN KS CH
SUBJECT: ASSISTING NORTH KOREANS IN NORTHEAST CHINA: ONE 
GROUP'S STORY 
 
Classified By: A/POL Brian McFeeters.  Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
. 
¶1. (C) Crossing Borders (protect) is a Christian organization 
that provides assistance to North Korean migrants and 
refugees in Yanji, China.  American citizen Mike Kim (KIM 
Sun-jung), approached the Embassy on November 1 to discuss 
his organization's operations in China.  Crossing Borders' 
Korean-Chinese staff frequently travels into North Korea and 
produces reports on the situation inside the DPRK.  Kim, a 
Korean-American, shared stories that he heard from North 
Koreans that passed through his shelters.  COMMENT: We are 
unsure of Kim's motivation for approaching us, and are 
cautious about the veracity of some of his claims about 
Crossing Borders' work and the defector stories he recounted. 
 Nonetheless, we believe that his organization could be an 
important source for information on conditions in North Korea 
and a worthwhile contact to maintain. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
. 
CROSSING BORDERS: OPERATIONS 
---------------------------- 
. 
¶2. (C) Mike Kim (protect), a Korean-American who has lived in 
Northeast China for four years, requested a meeting with 
Poloffs on November 1 to discuss his involvement with 
Christian-based organization Crossing Borders (protect).  Kim 
first went to China to visit house churches ("basically two 
or three people praying in someone's home") and witness 
first-hand the persecution of Christians.  During the trip, 
he learned of the plight of North Korean refugees and was 
inspired to work on the issue after meeting his first North 
Korean refugee, a North Korean girl who he thought was seven, 
when she was in fact 13.  Kim moved to China under cover of 
being an electrician.  Fearing discovery by Chinese 
authorities, he changed his cover to a Taekwondo teacher, as 
he has no training as an electrician.  In an interesting 
twist, Kim said that he had trained with two North Korean 
Taekwondo masters in Yanji. 
. 
¶3. (C) Kim initially focused on helping North Korean refugees 
seek asylum in third countries. He reported with pride that 
he was involved in the 2003 incident in Shanghai in which 
four North Korean teenagers entered the British Consulate. 
Following Chinese crackdowns and deportations of North Korean 
refugees after several such high-profile incursions into 
diplomatic facilities, Kim reported his surprise at hearing 
some farmers in Northeast China complain about the Crossing 
Borders' tactics.  These farmers, whose North Korean wives 
had been deported, argued that, until the profile of the 
issue was raised through such incidents, North Koreans were 
able to live relatively undisturbed in Northeast China. 
. 
¶4. (C) Kim reported that most foreign activists who help 
North Korean refugees in Northeast China do not last long. 
They are generally arrested and deported within one year. 
Because Kim wanted to live and work in China for a longer 
time period, he decided to focus his work on providing 
assistance to North Korean migrants and refugees and to 
obtaining information on the situation inside North Korea. 
Crossing Borders sends ten teams of Korean-Chinese staff in 
to North Korea each month to gather information about the 
situation there.  These teams report primarily on social, 
humanitarian, and human rights issues, but occasionally 
gather information on military issues, Kim said. 
. 
¶5. (C) Crossing Borders also provides humanitarian assistance 
and religious instruction and materials to North Korean 
migrants and refugees that pass through its shelters and 
Churches in Yanji, China, Kim stated.  Crossing Borders, he 
said, no longer helps North Koreans seek asylum elsewhere, 
but rather helps North Koreans integrate in China or return 
to North Korea.  While the organization allows North Koreans 
to choose their path, it encourages North Koreans to return 
to the DPRK and return periodically to China with information 
and for additional materials.  Kim said his organization 
thinks returning to North Korea is the best solution for 
North Koreans, who face difficulty integrating elsewhere, and 
said that Crossing Borders helps them establish business or 
other means of surviving in North Korea. 
 
SEOUL 00003891  002 OF 002 
 
 
. 
DEFECTOR TESTIMONIES 
-------------------- 
. 
¶6. (C) Kim reported that, based on a survey conducted of the 
North Koreans that passed through Crossing Borders' shelters 
and churches, 97 percent of North Korean women are 
trafficking victims.  Kim told of another defector who had 
been imprisoned in North Korea and reported being used by 
prison guards for Taekwondo practice.  Despite their 
hardships, Kim said he has been struck by North Koreans' 
resilience and will to survive. 
. 
¶7. (C) Kim also told us about a former DPRK soldier who 
recalled watching television footage of U.S. operations in 
Operation Desert Storm, and many considered that North Korean 
forces could not compete.  The DPRK solders were impressed 
with the superior capabilities of the U.S. military.  The 
military, according to this defector, did not have enough 
food, and many soldiers where unable to complete their daily 
exercise routine due to malnutrition.  Many were unable to 
concentrate, Kim said the defector reported, because they 
spent most of their time thinking of food or sleep.  Kim said 
that many soldiers are reportedly encouraged to steal goods 
such as alcohol from other North Korean citizens for their 
commanding officers.  Kim described being struck by the 
defector's description of the North Korean soldiers' 
mentality, as most soldiers knew that many of them would not 
survive in a war with the U.S.   Kim recounted that the 
defector told him that if a war broke out, most soldiers 
would first shoot their commanding officers. 
. 
REPORTING INTO A BLACK HOLE 
--------------------------- 
. 
¶8. (C) Kim told Poloffs that Crossing Borders' reports are 
produced and archived within the organization, and not 
disseminated on a more regular basis.  Kim expressed some 
surprise at USG interest in information collected from North 
Korean defectors and by Crossing Borders' representatives who 
travel into North Korea.  Kim said that the organization had 
struggled between publicizing its information widely, 
particularly through the media, and keeping its operations 
and information more discreet.  Kim seemed open to Poloffs' 
suggestions for quiet and confidential channels through which 
reporting could be shared with the USG, other NGOs, or both. 
STANTON