January 12, 2005 - 1:00 PM

MPs protest as China breaks up meeting

By John Ruwitch

BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korean lawmakers have found out for themselves the limits of political freedom in China
when men believed to be Chinese state security officials shut down their planned news conference.

The lawmakers had called the news conference to publicise the issue of North Korean refugees who have reached
China and who rights groups say are often sent back if they are caught by authorities or fail to push their way into a
foreign embassy.

"We have nothing to hide, turn on the lights. Identify yourselves," said one of the lawmakers, Bae Il-do. "This
amounts to an illegal detainment."

At least five Chinese men, who appeared to be state security agents dressed in plainclothes but who declined to
identify themselves, turned off the lights in the hotel conference room and began shouting and shoving people
through the doors.

A photographer from The Associated Press was hit on the head, and several others were pushed and shoved by
the men who said they did not need to inform anyone who they were.

Politically sensitive meetings are routinely shut down by China's ruling Communist Party, which censors criticism
and blocks freedom of assembly.

"We will abide by Chinese law but we want to see the relevant law. Where in the Chinese law does it prohibit
holding press conferences?" asked another lawmaker, Kim Moon-soo, who added it troubled him to think of Beijing
hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics.

"I doubt whether a country like this can successfully hold the Olympic Games," he said.

The lawmakers, who said they had been on a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation of North Korean
refugees, visited border areas and also called for the release of Choi Young-hoon, a South Korean they say was
imprisoned in China for helping the asylum seekers.

Chinese authorities may have feared criticism of China's treatment of North Korean refugees, tens of thousands of
whom are thought to be living covertly in China.

Refugees frequently cross the porous China-North Korea border to escape poverty and political repression, but
they pose a diplomatic headache for China, one of the reclusive North's few allies.

'NOT HAPPY'

Diplomats from the South Korean embassy arrived to try to sort out the standoff but were not allowed into the
room.

"We are not happy," said one embassy official.

Inside, the Chinese men were filming and taking pictures but continued to prevent the meeting from proceeding
even after the power was restored.

The men said the lawmakers did not have the appropriate documents from the Foreign Ministry to conduct the
briefing. The Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

Wednesday's meeting was publicised by Douglas Shin, a South Korean pastor and activist who leads a group
helping North Korean refugees and who is thought to have helped several seek asylum at foreign embassies in
Beijing.

The lawmakers had a briefing at the South Korean embassy and met the more than 100 North Korean asylum
seekers holed up there.

"We request China to show leniency towards North Koreans and allow them free passage to a third country of their
choice," the lawmakers said in a statement circulated by Shin.