The News That Never Happened Today

Hundreds of thousands of enraged South Koreans did not turn out for a politically charged cande light vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul today. The non-rally did not follow a report that Chinese border guards shot a North Korean refugee dead while trying to cross into Mongolia and seek asylum. Twelve other refugees were arrested and are expected to be deported to North Korea, where they face almost certain death in concentration camps.

The non-protesters also did not burn the Chinese flag and did not carry banners denouncing China for its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees, in violation of the U.N. Convention on Refugees, of which China is a signatory.

The non-protest follows an even larger non-protest against China after guards in one of its detention camps reportedly tortured North Korean refugees to break a hunger strike. The refugees were trying to prevent their forced repatriation to North Korea. After expressing concern at the time, the South Korean government did not inquire into the status of the hunger strikers this week.

Analysts have speculated that the latest shooting incident will not unleash a wave of Korean nationalism that will not impact South Korea�s parliamentary elections on April 15th.