Four N. Korean Refugees Enter U.S. Embassy in China

[Updated 5/21; scroll down.]

The Chosun Ilbo reports that a new group of North Korean refugees is under U.S. protection, this time in China.

Four North Korean refugees have reportedly moved from the Korean Consulate in Shenyang, China to the U.S. mission to seek asylum there. If they succeed, they would become the second group of defectors from the Stalinist country to be accepted in the U.S., after six who were given official refugee status there via a Southeast Asian country early this month.

Yonhap reports that the refugees are in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. After all the years of anti-American brainwashing and South Korea’s efforts at appeasing North Korea (its government, that is), these refugees — like many others — would rather go to America.

The current group initially entered the South Korean Consulate to head to South Korea, sources in Seoul and Shenyang said. But news that the first group had been accepted persuaded them to try their luck with the U.S. consulate instead, using help from organizations working for North Korean refugees in China. The Foreign Ministry has denied that they came into conflict with South Korean consular officials in the process.

South Korea has ceded its position as the legitimate representative of Koreans everywhere, to Orange County. Equally noteworthy is the conspicuous irrelevance of the U.N.H.C.R.

The refugees must obtain permission from the Chinese government to seek asylum in the U.S., a hurdle that is likely to create tension between Washington and Beijing. The Chinese government is reluctant to give permission given its close relations with Pyongyang and fears that this would set a precedent encouraging North Koreans to flood into China.

That’s right, but the Chinese don’t want this to be a standoff with refugees beseiged in the U.S. Embassy, attracting media. Instead, they’ll try to crack down on refugees before they get into embassies. Whether they’re successful will determine whether this will be the start of a deluge.

In related news, Senator Sam Brownback is trying to pull the diplomatic meter back in the right direction by meeting with North Korean refugees and stating that human rights will continue to be “a priority” in U.S. negotiations with North Korea.

Update 5/21:

Cue the music; this is inspiring. Just when you think that the whole world hates us, you see what a powerful beacon America is. When we are true to what we are and stand for the inherent right of all people to live in freedom, neither the lies of those who hate us, nor barriers of language, culture, or nationality are more powerful than the magnetic power of a free and open society.

Four North Koreans overpowered a security guard and scaled the wall of a U.S. consulate in China in hopes of gaining asylum from their impoverished, communist country, South Korean media reported Saturday.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the four entered the U.S. consulate in the northeastern city of Shenyang from the neighboring South Korean consulate by climbing a wall separating the two compounds.

A Chinese security guard employed by the Korean mission tried to stop them, but the North Koreans overpowered him, the paper said.

The Chinese aren’t going to want to let these people go, and our nation will be tested. We will soon see what stuff our leaders are made of, because negotiations with the Chinese are underway now:

The United States is thought likely to allow the defectors to enter. The recent decision to accept six North Korean defectors was made on U.S. President George Bush’s personal instructions, according to a source here familiar with the circumstances. Chinese government approval is necessary to fly the group to the United States. However, China seems worried about setting a precedent of seeking U.S. asylum through another country’s consulate in China and possible diplomatic complications with North Korea.

North Koreans are citizens of South Korea under Articles 2 and 3 of the ROK Constitution. Yet South Korea has made itself a bystander to the determination of its own nationhood, and its forsaken citizens are willing to take down a Chinese security guard to shun it.

The South Korean consulate had told the defectors it was difficult to send them to the U.S. consulate due to its relations with China, so they scaled the wall, sources said. During the process, the defectors, who are in their 20s and 30s, had a minor physical clash with a Chinese security guard at the South Korean consulate, according to multiple sources.

Their own homeland was telegraphing its intent to betray them. Shame on South Korea.