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American Activist Enters North Korea

   Human rights activists say Robert Park crossed into N. Korea Friday to
   urge leader Kim Jong Il to repent

   VOA News 26 December 2009
   A  South  Korean woman watches TV broadcasting of Christian missionary
   Robert Park, 26 Dec 2009

Photo: AP

   A  South  Korean woman watches TV broadcasting of Christian missionary
   Robert Park, 26 Dec 2009

   Human  rights  activists  say an American Christian missionary crossed
   into North Korea Friday to urge leader Kim Jong Il to repent.
   The  activists said Saturday that Robert Park crossed into North Korea
   from China Friday, carrying a letter urging the North Korean leader to
   release  political  prisoners, shut down the concentration camps where
   they are held, and open the borders to allow aid teams to enter.
   South  Korea  and  Western  governments  say  North  Korea maintains a
   network  of  political prisons holding tens of thousands of prisoners.
   Pyongyang denies the charges.
   A   colleague  said  Park,  a  Korean-American,  is  a  member  of  an
   international   campaign  called  "Freedom  and  Life  for  All  North
   Koreans."
   There has been no response from the North about the crossing.
   American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of the U.S. media outlet
   Current  TV,  were  arrested in March after accidentally crossing into
   the North while working on a story.
   They  were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, but were freed as part
   of  a  diplomatic mission led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in
   August.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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