Southeast Asia

September 18, 2006

Seven N. Korean Refugee Women Turn Themselves in to Thai Authorities

Update: Much more information below, courtesy of Human Rights Without Frontiers. Warning: it’s pretty disturbing stuff. Seven North Korean women have turned themselves in to Thai authorities in the Nong Khai of Northeastern Thailand (map). By my count, there are at least 289 North Koreans, almost all women and children, in Thai custody now. Thailand does not seem likely to deport them to China or North Korea, but you have to wonder what’s going on after all this time. Life...

Refugees/Southeast Asia

September 8, 2006

Six More North Korean Refugees Caught at the Laos-Thailand Border

The refugees, including one child, were arrested on September 2nd at the village of Sri Chiangmai in the Nong Khai region of Northeastern Thailand, along with Kim Hee Tae, a South Korean humanitarian aid worker. Mr. Kim was able to make bail by paying a large amount of money to the authorities; the refugees remain jailed in Nong Khai. Norbert Vollertsen is with them, and provided the details for this post. The timing is fortuitous, with the new E.U. Resolution...

Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 29, 2006

More Refugees on the Way to the USA

About a dozen North Korean defectors are staying in a Southeast Asian country while seeking asylum in the United States, the South Korean government said Thursday, confirming a local newspaper report. On reading further, it’s apparent that the country in question is Thailand, Let’s hope that these refugees are in that group, as it would be a step up from jail. The story also appears to refer to the Shenyang Four.

Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 11, 2006

Laotian Gov’t Releases All 12 Prisoners; No Word Yet on Prisoners in Thailand

Thank you for your calls, letters, and e-mails to the Laotian Embassy; it looks like we’ve helped save ten people from a horrific fate. Thanks also to the other bloggers who linked my posts on this story. On behalf of all activists who persevered for almost two weeks during a rollercoaster drama that saw 10 North Korean refugees endure two separate imprisonments in Laos, a ransom standoff, the ever-present specter of repatriation to North Korea via China, I am most...

Abductions/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 8, 2006

More on the N. Korean Refugees Being Held in Laos

[Update: Human Rights Without Frontiers has launched an urgent appeal, which I reprint in full below, with Lao Embassy contacts in several nations. I called the Embassy today and thanks all who do so in advance.] Tim Peters has sent an update on the story The Korea Liberator broke here yesterday about the North Korean refugees jailed in Laos. You will recall that eight refugees and two South Korean activists were intercepted by the Lao police, who arrested and later...

Appeasement/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 6, 2006

Derailed on the Underground Railroad

[Update 7 Jun 06: A hopeful sign? Personally, I think we need to keep the pressure on. My heartfelt thanks to those of you — and I’m hearing from a number of you — who have sent letters, and to the journalists I contacted who have shown great interest in the story. That especially goes for the Yonhap correspondent.] Via the Christian activist Tim Peters, one of the founders of North Korean refugees’ underground railroad, and reader/teacher/activist Brendan Brown, eight...

Activism/Refugees/Southeast Asia

May 4, 2006

Source: First N. Korean Refugees to Arrive in U.S. Within Days

Via a trusted source, the first group of North Korean refugees will arrive at an undisclosed U.S. airport, escorted by personnel from an American embassy in Southeast Asia, within the next few days. There will be six refugees in the initial groups. Larger numbers are expected to follow in the next few weeks. All are currently under the protection of a U.S. consular facility in Southeast Asia. Among those expected to arrive later are concentration camp survivors. The refugees all...

Refugees/Southeast Asia/Uncategorized/Washington Views

May 4, 2006

Refugees Update

[Update: Richardson picks up several other reports to the same effect. Things seem to be moving, and you have to wonder what could happen next now that the word has started to spread.] The Chosun Ilbo reports fresh signs of progress that the State Department is finally aboard the love train on North Korean refugees. A group of North Korean defectors in Southeast Asia is reportedly seeking asylum in the United States. In an interview with Korea’s Yonhap News, a...

An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/North Korea/Refugees/Southeast Asia/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views

May 1, 2006

Has a U.S. Embassy Accepted NK Defectors?

[Update: link fixed, thanks!] Via the Chosun Ilbo: Some five or six North Korean defectors are reportedly preparing to enter the U.S. under the protection of its embassy in a Southeast Asian country as Washington prepares to make good on a pledge to grant asylum to more refugees from the Stalinist country. Sources in the U.S. government and Congress said Thursday as soon as procedural matters with the Asian country are resolved, the North Koreans will make their way to...

Activism/Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views

February 22, 2006

Congress Criticizes State Dep’t on NK Refugees

[Updated; scroll down] Thanks to a dedicated group of Congressional staffers who forwarded me a scanned copy, which is signed by members of both parties and both houses. I’m going through WordPress hell trying to publish the entire text, but in the meantime, here’s a scanned copy on the Committee’s site.The executive summary is that Congress believes that State is turning away refugees, thus flouting its unanimous will and throwing away America’s credibility on this issue. Update: OK, full scanned...

Activism/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia/Uncategorized/Washington Views

February 15, 2006

Stranger Than Fiction: The Pyongyang Charm School

Everyone is ashamed of something in his past. High on my own list is the time my brother persuaded me to read “The Charm School,” a Nelson Demille spy novel. The plot premise was that Moscow took custody American MIA’s from North Viet Nam to create a “charm school,” an exact replica of an American neighborhood, complete with American residents. The idea was to immerse Soviet sleeper agents into their next work assignments. Unlike some other aspects of life in...

Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/Asia/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Japan/Japan & Korea/North Korea/Southeast Asia/WTF?

Category: Southeast Asia