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 letter posted at “continue” link below.

Update 23 Feb: The Chosun Ilbo covers the story and quotes Doug Anderson, an aide to Asian-Pacific Affairs Subcommittee Chairman James Leach, as follows:

Meanwhile, an advisor to International Relations Committee, Doug Anderson, told a seminar hosted by the Institute for Corean-American Studies that Congress will consider a revision of the act if Washington continues to drag its feet in admitting North Korean refugees. It could designate refugees “Priority 2″, which would offer them group exile and make it easier for them to seek asylum. The status would eliminate the need for defectors to be given refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

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usinkorea says:

February 24, 2006 at 3:40 pm

I’ve heard a couple of NK scholars say accepting refugees would be a mistake, because they would not assimilate and would probably end up in crime if not simply wellfare cases.

I think it is not only the moral/ethical thing to do, it makes perfect sense long term.

They are very valuable intel sources. They are very valuable public relations resourses. They also provide a long term pool of possible intel agents. I think the US has had trouble with Korean agents in the past, but South Korea was a good sourse for that. Given the South’s politics since at least 2000 if not 1998, I’d imagine that source for human intel agents is unreliable if not largely absent. The US will need to set up its own human intel resources in the future if the NK regime stays alive (which it will with China and SK’s help) and remains a threat — which it will till hell freezes over or it collapses.