Korean Citizen's Wife, Gao Chengnu, Released from Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp

On the afternoon of May 13, 2005, Ms. Gao Chengnu was released from the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Gao is a Falun Gong practitioner and a Korean citizen. Her husband's name is Mr. Guo Binghao.

Ms. Gao Chengnu is a Chinese Korean. She married her husband in China on May 18, 2003. As Ms. Gao was preparing to immigrate to Korea, the Chinese Police Department refused to issue her a passport because she would not renounce the practise of Falun Gong. On May 7, 2004, she was abducted and detained in the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp.

In August 2004, Korean Falun Gong practitioners established a "Ms. Gao Chengnu Rescue Committee" and appealed to all the citizens of Korea to join together in rescuing Ms. Gao. During that time, more than 230,000 kind-hearted Korean citizens signed a petition supporting this effort. Twenty-four congressional representatives drafted a letter to the Chinese government demanding the unconditional release of Ms. Gao and delivered it to Mr. Hu Jintao, the President of China. The Cheonan City Senate, the Chungcheongnam-do Legislative Assembly, and many other organisations, including 71 local parliaments and government groups, passed resolutions calling for the Chinese government to unconditionally release Ms. Gao.

The Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp, however, delayed her release for one more week with the excuse that she had said aloud, "Falun Dafa is good" and that she was disobeying the prison rules.

The Korean Falun Dafa Association expressed deep concern that the Communist government of China was disregarding the humanitarian efforts of the people of Korea and their demand for the release of Ms. Gao.

After Ms. Gao's release, the Korean Falun Dafa Association published a statement thanking everyone who had participated in the rescue effort to urge the Chinese government to issue a passport for Ms. Gao and let her travel to Korea. The statement also advised the Chinese government to immediately stop its increasingly exasperating persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and its worldwide persecution efforts, which of late have been most visible in Indonesia and Singapore.

The statement also expressed the resolve of all the rescue groups to continue their efforts until Ms. Gao is allowed to return to her family in Korea.

After hearing over the phone the news that his wife had been released, Mr. Guo Binghao could not hide his happiness. He expressed his sincere thanks to those who had worked for the release of his wife. He said he would go to China to meet his wife on May 23 and bring her back with him to Korea.