§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made with proposals for North Korean students to come to the United Kingdom for cultural and language education to increase links at a sub-governmental level. [151900]
§ Mr. RammellThe Government have no objection to students from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) studying language and culture courses in the UK. Through our policy of engagement with DPRK, we encourage the country to increase its citizens' exposure to the outside world. Our on-going programme of educational activity with DPRK includes Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded (FCO), UK-based English language courses for DPRK officials, and an FCO-sponsored/British Council-managed English language course for teachers and students in universities in Pyongyang. We also provide educational materials to schools and universities in DPRK.
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§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to secure greater access for western non-governmental organisations into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. [151901]
§ Mr. RammellWe regularly urge the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) authorities to allow freer and wider access to and within DPRK for western non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We also supported the resolution adopted by the 2003 UN Commission on Human Rights, which calls for free and unimpeded access for NGOs to all parts of DPRK.
§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests the Government have made to the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on access for international inspectors to their prison system. [151902]
§ Mr. RammellWe have raised the issue of prison camps in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with the DPRK authorities on a number of occasions, through our embassy in Pyongyang and the DPRK embassy in London. We encourage the DPRK Government to allow access to independent international inspectors to verify the reports of human rights violations in their prison system. Requests have been made for access by western diplomats to prisons, but these have yet to be granted.
§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to provide protection for economic and political refugees who leave the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and are hiding in China. [151903]
§ Mr. RammellWe regularly raise the issue of North Korean refugees with the Chinese, including at the biannual UK/China Human Rights Dialogue. At the last round of the Dialogue, on 10–11 November 2003, we urged China to allow the UNHCR access to the border areas and to observe its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
We will continue to encourage greater co-operation between China and UNHCR on this issue.
§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to assist aid workers in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to obtain timely and unimpeded access to distribute food aid to those people most in need. [151904]
§ Mr. RammellMost food aid in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency. We work closely with WFP and the resident aid community, and embassy staff travel frequently with WFP on their monitoring missions. We deplore restrictions placed on WFP by the DPRK authorities which limit their monitoring of food aid in many areas of DPRK, and we regularly urge the DPRK authorities to grant WFP full, unrestricted access to all parts of the country. Although the situation is not satisfactory, we welcome WFP reports of improvements in monitoring, access and food distribution systems.