Comments on: 3 December 2009 (Updated)

By: a listener

a listener — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:06:42 +0000

repatriation

By: a listener

a listener — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:06:18 +0000

Here are some pics of the soldier’s epatriation into North Korea.

http://pic.joins.com/article/photo/article.asp?total_id=3903613

By: mike v

mike v — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:23:22 +0000

The confiscations will continue until morale approves.

By: DanB

DanB — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:58:11 +0000

Jack, this is an issue of strategy, of course, and I will not pretend to be an expert. I also am one of those Americans who is quite proud of the fact the US has not joined the ICC. But the “international community” — the Europeans and many other regions and countries around the world do care what the UN and its various wings do. If suddenly this becomes more of a “hot issue” (to use the Konglish term that is everywhere all of the sudden) in these circles, it can only bring more pressure on China. I’m not naive enough to think China will simply flip its stance, but it may very well help some. But your point is well-taken nonetheless.

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:54:14 +0000

The ICC route is a red herring. So what happens when the ICC does start an investigation? And starts prosecutions in absentia? Same thing that would happen if George W. Bush was indicted as a war criminal. Nada.

With a myriad of different things NGOs can do to help the North Korean people, IMHO the opportunity costs of devoting time, coin and energy to this particular endeavour seem far too high.

For instance, with the funds they’re going to use to travel to the Hague, a few more brokers could have been paid for at least a few more North Koreans to have been rescued. Last someone active in the underground railroad told me, it was around $500 a head – probably half the cost of the plane ride to the Netherlands from ICN.

After giving a talk at a local church, someone came up to me and said that the $500/rescue figure reminded him of that last scene in Schindler’s List, where Liam Neeson’s character looks at his Nazi pin and rues the fact that if he had sold it, he could have saved one more life.

Now I’m not saying spending money on advocacy is not important: as someone intimately connected with an advocacy group here in Canada, I’m not going to shoot my own horse. However, perhaps at times with our scarce resources we should put things into perspective. What’s the most effective use of the money that we have? Spending $1000 for a plane ride for a doomed mission, or using that to save two North Korean lives?