Hyekyung Jo, a North Korean defector living in Toronto with her husband and sons for seven years, had hoped to remain in Canada as a permanent resident.

Instead, she and as many as 50 other North Korean families residing across the GTA recently received letters from the federal Immigration Department informing them that their requests for permanent residency are poised to be revoked. They face deportation to South Korea — a place that Jo said is hostile to North Korean nationals.

Part of the issue identified in the Oct. 30 letter that Jo and her husband, Myungchul Kang, received is this: the South Korean government automatically grants North Koreans citizenship. Canada recognizes South Korea as a safe haven for refugees.

Another issue: Jo admitted at a Saturday news conference with other affected families that she and her husband weren’t truthful when they arrived in Toronto as asylum seekers in 2010. They told refugee board officials they’d travelled directly from China when, in fact, they’d lived for several years in South Korea.

Jo said if she had a chance to speak directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she would ask for a second chance for the sake of her children: Daniel, 9; Alex, 6; and 9-month-old Jayden — the two youngest born here.

“If I go back (to South Korea), the adults, me and my husband, will survive somehow,” Jo said through a translator and weeping.

“But the kids who were born here and the oldest, it’s not their fault that they ended up as my kids. I’m really sorry that we’ve told false stories (in 2010) but it was only for our survival and I hope the Canadian government gives us an opportunity to stay.”

Jo added that while in South Korea, her husband was under investigation for espionage, a distressing situation that makes returning to the peninsula even bleaker, she said. Kang, 36, currently supports his family as a sushi chef.

Rocky Kim is president of the Canada Federation of North Korean Defectors, which organized the news conference at the Korean Salvation Army Church. Kim, also a North Korean national, said up to 50 families in the Toronto area received letters from the ministry.

Kim said these letters have shocked the North Korean community, especially since they come many years after families like Jo’s passed refugee hearings.

Progressive Conservative MPP Raymond Cho, who is originally from South Korea, attended the news conference. The PC immigration critic and representative for Scarborough—Rouge River said his native country can be a difficult place for North Korean defectors, who often experience discrimination at school and while seeking work.

That occurs partly because North Korean dialects are distinct and set them apart from southern speakers, Cho said. In addition, South Korean documentation, such as social insurance numbers, identifies North Korean nationals on paperwork that employers can see.

“It’s almost impossible to get a good job,” Cho said. “That’s the reality.”

Cho told the crowd of about 200 people that North Koreans who don’t thrive in the South look elsewhere, to places like Canada.

He said North Koreans are “brainwashed by (immigration) brokers to tell lies” to Canadian officials, as Jo did, to claim that they arrived as refugees directly from China, and that they are often counselled to claim they have no documentation such as passports, or to change their names and dates of birth.

“They think it is the only way to get into Canada … they just don’t know any better,” Cho said of the North Koreans.

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Canada has been closing the door on North Koreans for several years.

In 2013, Ottawa compiled a list of 35 countries determined to be “safe” for refugees. South Korea is on that list.

In late 2013, a decision by the refugee appeal tribunal to overturn a North Korean woman’s refugee status signalled a change in how Ottawa viewed asylum seekers from the authoritarian regime now led by Kim Jong Un. The North Korean woman and her daughter had come to Canada from South Korea that year and were quickly granted asylum by the Immigration and Refugee Board. Chris Alexander, federal immigration minister at the time, successfully appealed the asylum decision by contending that North Korean refugees are automatically granted South Korean citizenship.

Laura Albanese, Ontario’s minister of citizenship and immigration, and David Zimmer, minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, attended the Saturday news conference, along with Willowdale Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi. In total, five people told their stories.

One woman, Minhee Kim, said she fled the North “because of the hunger and the poverty.” She said was then investigated by South Korean intelligence officers because she’d been in the military.

Another defector, Yuna Kim, said her mother was tortured and beaten to death after she escaped. Taegun Kim said he was filmed by media when he arrived in China in 2002, which exposed his identity, and his family in North Korea suffered reprisals.

Jo said it appears she and her husband have one more chance to meet with ministry officials, but if that does not go well, she expects her family will have between one and two months to leave the country.

“Please give hope to my kids,” Jo said, facing the assembled politicians at the church.

Zimmer said after listening to their stories, he felt “strongly” that the “federal government should find a way to allow for special circumstances for North Korean defectors.”

Zimmer said he plans to raise this issue with his federal counterparts when he returns to Ottawa next week.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada could not be reached for comment Saturday.

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