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N. Korean dissenters now more visible

HOERYONG, North Korea, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A growing amount of North Korean dissenters' material calling for the overthrow of communist dictator Kim Jong Il is turning up in other countries.

At least three homemade videotapes shot last November in Hoeryong, a town on the border with China, show a handwritten poster that says "Down with Kim Jong Il! The Independent reported Wednesday.

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They also show child beggars, inmates of a prison camp, and a policeman at a market beating a woman accused of prostitution.

The Seoul-based Civil Coalition for Human Rights of the Kidnapped and Defectors from North Korea, headed by Hwang Jang-yop, claims the tape is by one of 10 underground anti-government organizations in North Korea.

Refugees maintain Kim is hated and is blamed for causing a famine which has killed 3 million people.

A Buddhist aid group in South Korea, Good Friends, which has been helping refugees in China for 10 years, just released a report alleging half of foreign food donations to North Korea go directly to the military and party organizations, not the needy.

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