Korea Diary, 1 June 06

The latest word on the first six North Korean refugees to come to the United States is inspiring:

During the dinner, the six were tearful. “I never thought time was so precious,” said a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier, who is now calling himself Sin Joseph. “But, now, I don’t want to waste any second, any minute.” He said he has two goals “• to learn English and to earn a license as an auto mechanic.

Sin Joseph escaped to China in 1997, but was repatriated. After six months in prison, he escaped again in 2004.
Another defector, 25, now going by Deborah, said she is studying hard to learn English. The first word she learned was “delicious,” repeating the word over and over at the dinner. “I don’t feel scared any more when I hear the siren of a police car or an ambulance,” she said.

Naomi, 34, said she chose the United States over South Korea because she believed she will be better off working in the United States. “By coming [here], I will not be receiving the settlement money and house that I could have received in South Korea,” she said. “But, after a few years, that would all be spent. What is important is working hard.”

There will be an end to this honeymoon, but the kindess and generosity of these church members will make the difference between survival and alienation. It’s the kind of compassion that a state subsidy can’t provide. Even more important is that people from a state that smothers all individuality are talking about self-reliance: hard work, learning English, and making something of themselves.

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Kaesong Watch: The USG is sending a State Department official to Kaesong. Let’s hope she demands some answers on worker pay and benefits. The North, however, has not declared transparency to be in effect. A group of South Korean journalists has had its permission to visit Kaesong revoked.

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Funny, I thought KEDO was already dead and gone. The South Koreans ended up being stuck with the bill, but they insist that they’ll get their money back. Place your bets here.

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The United States has rejected a North Korean invitation to do something the U.S. has long said it won’t do: bilateral talks.

“The United States is not going to engage in bilateral negotiations with the government of North Korea,” said White House spokesman Tony Snow, saying Washington was sticking to its position that any negotiations be conducted through a six-nation format.

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The Daily NK has discovered the power of ridicule as a political weapon.

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Although I don’t agree that the murder in Camp 22 is empirically comparable to Auschwitz, I’m glad to see stories like this, and the reaction they inevitably evoke: why should anyone give a flying fuck about Gitmo when thousands of innocent men, women, and kids are being murdered in places like this?