102 Defectors in 50 Days

. . . and that’s just in Beijing. Of course, embassies can only hold so many people. When the North Koreans start using boats, whether they embark from North Korea or China, the mass exodus becomes a real possibility.

You’d think that under those circumstances, Kim Jong-Il would be less intransigent.

To what extent does reality penetrate the Dear Leader’s universe?

UPDATE: On 10/24, another 18 tried to get into the South Korean international school; only 4 made it.

UPDATE II: How did the Chinese get most of those refugees out of the school? Cattle prods.

The OhMyNews Scale explains all. These human lives are worth a mere 3 1/2 points out of 10 to the Korean media. Page 4 of the Joongang Ilbo. Just because it’s possible to calibrate something doesn’t mean you can comprehend the sheer skull-bursting illogic and warped moral perspective beneath it. Chinese police can shock women and kids with freaking cattle prods and they will enter and leave the gates of their own embassy in Seoul unmolested tomorrow, and the day after. Imagine if an American MP did the same thing to one of those snotty Hangchonryon zombies. The value of your shares in Hanhwa candle company would double overnight.

Expect no Abu Ghraib frenzy over this, nor any court-martials for the offenders. Or for this, either. Now that’s what I call prisoner abuse.