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31 members of ‘Korean Stars Worried about Defectors’ including actor Cha In Pyo and singers Lee Mu Song and No Sa Youn, held a concert to publicize the repatriation of defectors by the Chinese government at Yonsei University’s Centennial Memorial Hall yesterday evening.
19 further artists also took part in the ‘Cry with Us Concert’, including popular K-pop group Jewelry, distinguished actor Song Jae Ho, sports writer Lee Chung Hee and actress Choi Ran.
‘Cry with Us’ is the theme song to the 2008 movie ‘Crossing’, which starred Cha In Pyo as a family man who crosses into China to find medicine for his sick wife.
“We are South Korean entertainers. We are not some kind of political group, we came here as brothers and sisters worried about the lives of the North Korean defectors facing the crisis of forced repatriation,” the group announced in a statement pleading for people to take an interest in the case.
“Please cry for them, and instead of them. For every tear that we shed can gather, bringing them from death towards life, from despair towards hope. Please help us, let our plea be heard far and wide until the Chinese government stops repatriating the defectors.”
Comedienne Park Mi Sun issued an appeal of her own, saying, “These North Korean defectors did not have a political reason for leaving their country. They walked toward the light of warmth because they could not stand the cold and the hunger. If attention gathers little by little then it can save these defectors. Please cry with us together, for our countrymen who are living day to day in pain and despair.”
Defector Lee Kyung Hwa, a Yonsei University student with her own experience of force repatriation when she was just 17, reached out to the Tumen detention center where the defectors are being held to say, “I know you’re having a hard time now, but please, please hold on. I know how scary it is to be in a place where there is no sunlight. Even worse, I know how difficult it is to think that no one is there to help you and that you are alone.”
“That is why we are here, trying our best to save you. Not just us defectors, but Korean stars and people from all over the world are working in unison to help you. Please, just endure these painful times for a little longer,” she went on.
“Do you know the game pinball?” Cha In Pyo asked the audience. “The ball is hit around from here to there until it ends up disappearing into a hole. For several decades now, who has welcomed these defectors? Who cried for them?”
“From now on,” he vowed, “we will cry for those who cannot even cry for themselves.”
