February 10, 2004
Ri's reprieve
Former North Korean diplomat Song Dae Ri will be allowed to stay in Canada until his appeals are heard:
A North Korean defector, whose refugee application was denied despite facing persecution back home, is safe in Canada for now, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Judy Sgro.
Song Dae Ri, 37, has initiated two separate appeals — under a pre-removal risk assessment and humanitarian grounds — to stay in Canada with his 6-year-old son Chang-Il.
"No one is asking Mr. Ri to leave the country today. There is a process in place. There are two avenues that are proceeding and they will proceed until we have done a full analysis and have all the facts necessary to ensure ... the protection of Canada and Canadians," Sgro told reporters in Toronto yesterday.
"We cannot make a decision until we have all the facts."
Ri, a former North Korean trade official, defected to Canada with his wife and son in August, 2001. An Immigration and Refugee Board tribunal rejected his asylum case last September, ruling that he was complicit in crimes against humanity.
His lawyer, Robert Moorhouse, said his client was wrongly branded as being complicit in war crimes, noting that the immigration department's own war crimes unit determined, on three different occasions, that Ri is neither a war criminal nor is he complicit in any crimes against humanity.
The refugee board ruled that Ri's son can stay for fear of persecution in North Korea. The boy's mother was lured back to North Korea by her parents in December, 2001, and was executed four months later.
Posted by damian at February 10, 2004 12:39 PM