Report on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
VII. Summary
Session:
127
INFORMATION FROM SOURCE
Date: 04-May-2022
According to the source:
Mr. Lee Hong-Gi, a dentist born in 1956 in Japan was allegedly detained on 6 January 2021 by Chinese Public Security Officers in
Shenyang, Liaoning Province, alongside with his wife Ms. Ryang Soon-Nyeo and son Mr. Lee Tae-In. In April 2021 , he
disappeared with his family from Yanji prison in Jilin Province, China.
His family was among the 93,340 ethnic Korean “returnees” who migrated to the DPRK from Japan during the “Paradise on Earth
Movement” which began on 14 December 1959 and officially ended in 1984. Their migration and subsequent enforced
disappearance are chronicled in the report of the detailed findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (UN Doc. A/HRC/25/CRP.1 (7 February 2014), paras. 916-923).
Mr. Lee Hong-Gi is married Ms. Ryang Soon-Nyeo, who also comes from a family of ethnic Korean “returnees” from Japan, and
her son. He resided with his family in Hyesan City, Ryanggang Province, North Korea.
In April 2020, Mr. Lee Hong-Gi, Ms. Ryang Soon-Nyeo and Mr. Lee Tae-In, left Hyesan City in the DPRK and crossed the Yalu
river from Kimjongsuk County, Ryanggang Province to China. Around October/November 2020, they were entrusted in the care of
family acquaintances in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China. On 6 January 2022, they and other North Korean escapees were
reportedly detained by State security officers from Shenyang and Yanji, and imprisoned in Yanji Prison in Jilin Province, China .
However, the Chinese authorities have refused to acknowledge Mr. Lee Hong-Gi’s, Ms. Ryang Soon-Nyeo’s and Mr. Lee Tae-In’s
deprivation of liberty and little is known about their conditions of detention.
At the time of the present communication, the fate and whereabouts of Mr. Lee Hong-Gi remain unknown.
Transmitted to Government on: 10-Jun-2022
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