Refugees – Page 18

August 17, 2006

TKL Saves Washington’s Upstanding Moral Reputation

The questionable massage parlor James blogged about here has been raided and shut down. In the District, federal agents targeted five brothels that were masquerading as massage parlors or spas. The establishments were 14K Spot, which operated in a basement in the 1400 block of K Street Northwest; Downtown Spa, in the 1000 block of Vermont Avenue Northwest; OK Spa, in the 2400 block of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest; Cleveland Park Holistic Health, on the second floor of a building in...

Human Trafficking/Korean Society/Media Criticism/Uncategorized

August 10, 2006

TKL Exclusive: What Hyde Will Tell Roh

Via a reliable source I can’t name, I now have some specifics on just how pretty this won’t be. Among Hyde’s expected talking points for his visit to Korea this week are the following. Disclaimer — this is a paraphrase of a paraphrase: * You want operational control of all forces during wartime. How is that going to work? Will there be a U.S. general and a Korean general commanding the entire force jointly or two forces separately? Either way,...

An Alliance?/Appeasement/China & Korea/Human Rights/Korean Society/NK Economics/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views

July 28, 2006

Journalistic Absurdity of the Day

Yonhap News gives us this head-scratcher in the course of reporting on North Korea’s new demand for its missile launches not to affect the Kaesong Industrial Complex: Nevertheless, the joint industrial complex has been a burden for the South Korean government as there are concerns that a portion of the wages paid to North Korean workers there could be used to develop missiles. (emphasis mine) I’m in awe. Those people labor long hours in sweatshops for a pittance and still...

Appeasement/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Humor/Satire/NK Economics/Uncategorized/WMD

July 27, 2006

LiNK Update

Lot of great stuff over at the LiNK site, including a video. Keep scrolling. If you live in Seoul, Andy Jackson is asking for passing along LiNK’s request for volunteers to teach English to North Korean refugees (I use the term intentionally). It’s easy to miss the potential importance of this, but English is key to connecting North Koreans to the greater world and allowing them to describe their experiences in their own words.

Activism/Human Rights/Refugees

July 25, 2006

China Frees the Shenyang Three, But Keeps Feeding the Dear Leader

They’re on their way to America now. You will recall that these refugees originally entered the South Korean Consulate, then overpowered a guard, jumped a wall, and entered the U.S. Consulate next door. I don’t necessarily see this as a sign that Chinese-North Korean relations are cooling, by the way. With the refugees safely inside an American Consulate, the Chinese and the Americans alike really had no choice but to allow this at some appropriate time. And although there are...

China/China & Korea/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Refugees

June 29, 2006

NK Freedom Watch, Issue 4

… courtesy of Freedom House. This issue discusses Europe’s increasing concern for the North Korean people, but focuses on human trafficking. Their definition of human trafficking doesn’t just involve the movement of enslaved people, but also involves the movement of things enslaved people are forced to make. I particularly recommend this issue to those interested in such issues as Kaesong and other exports from the North; this issue contains accounts of gulag inmates being made to produce products for export.

Activism/Europe/Human Rights/Human Trafficking

June 29, 2006

More Refugees on the Way to the USA

About a dozen North Korean defectors are staying in a Southeast Asian country while seeking asylum in the United States, the South Korean government said Thursday, confirming a local newspaper report. On reading further, it’s apparent that the country in question is Thailand, Let’s hope that these refugees are in that group, as it would be a step up from jail. The story also appears to refer to the Shenyang Four.

Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 20, 2006

Shenyang Four Three Update

Several days ago, I reported that the Shenyang Four would be allowed to leave China safely. This latest report doesn’t directly contradict that, but … A diplomatic source in Seoul said yesterday the United States will accept three of four North Korean asylum-seekers now in the U.S. Consulate General in Shenyang, China. The source said Washington had informed Seoul of the decision. The four North Koreans first entered the South Korean diplomatic premises in that city, but on May 6...

China/Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/U.S. & Korea

June 11, 2006

Laotian Gov’t Releases All 12 Prisoners; No Word Yet on Prisoners in Thailand

Thank you for your calls, letters, and e-mails to the Laotian Embassy; it looks like we’ve helped save ten people from a horrific fate. Thanks also to the other bloggers who linked my posts on this story. On behalf of all activists who persevered for almost two weeks during a rollercoaster drama that saw 10 North Korean refugees endure two separate imprisonments in Laos, a ransom standoff, the ever-present specter of repatriation to North Korea via China, I am most...

Abductions/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 10, 2006

Refugees Update

Twelve more North Korean refugees have been arrested in Thailand. Could this be a coincidence? Meanwhile, my contacts are giving me mixed reports on the status of the refugees held in a jail in Luang Prabang, Laos. Some say that media attention is helping the prognosis for release, another says that deportation back to North Korea may be imminent because the attention thus far has been limited. Please, take just a few seconds to contact the Lao Embassy to demand...

"United" Nations/Appeasement/Human Rights/Refugees

June 10, 2006

Minister Lee, Call Your Lawyer!

I wonder if the UniFiction Ministry’s Kaesong brain trust — perhaps the same great minds that thought they could fill Wal-Mart shelves with Kaesong products — ever stumbled across these articles of the Republic of Korea Constitution: Article 32 (1) All citizens shall have the right to work. The State shall endeavor to promote the employment of workers and to guarantee optimum wages through social and economic means and shall enforce a minimum wage system under the conditions as prescribed...

Appeasement/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Korean Law/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea

June 8, 2006

More on the N. Korean Refugees Being Held in Laos

[Update: Human Rights Without Frontiers has launched an urgent appeal, which I reprint in full below, with Lao Embassy contacts in several nations. I called the Embassy today and thanks all who do so in advance.] Tim Peters has sent an update on the story The Korea Liberator broke here yesterday about the North Korean refugees jailed in Laos. You will recall that eight refugees and two South Korean activists were intercepted by the Lao police, who arrested and later...

Appeasement/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 6, 2006

Derailed on the Underground Railroad

[Update 7 Jun 06: A hopeful sign? Personally, I think we need to keep the pressure on. My heartfelt thanks to those of you — and I’m hearing from a number of you — who have sent letters, and to the journalists I contacted who have shown great interest in the story. That especially goes for the Yonhap correspondent.] Via the Christian activist Tim Peters, one of the founders of North Korean refugees’ underground railroad, and reader/teacher/activist Brendan Brown, eight...

Activism/Refugees/Southeast Asia

June 1, 2006

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...

Appeasement/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Humor/Satire/NK Economics/Refugees/Six-Party Talks/Uncategorized

May 29, 2006

Korea Diary, 29 May 06

A Cold Wind in the North: North Korea has cancelled its visa waiver program for some Chinese visitors, and China has reciprocated. Like every other effort to explain what the North Koreans are up to, it’s speculative. The Joongang Ilbo’s writer speculates that it’s about North Korean fears of excessive Chinese economic influence, which makes sense, whether or not it’s the reason for this move. Another possible explanation — purely speculation and entirely my own — is that North Korea...

China & Korea/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Korean Society/NK Economics/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military

May 22, 2006

Modern-Day Comfort Women Describe Escape and Survival

In a follow-on to interviews they gave here, some of the first six North Korean refugees are talking about their escapes from the North. Here is an excerpt from the Dong-a Ilbo’s report: A woman who shared the same cell with Chan-mi died of malnutrition with her whole body swollen; another woman she witnessed was beaten to death. Chan-mi wept when she said, “When I was pardoned last year in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Korean Workers’ Party...

Activism/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

May 19, 2006

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...

"United" Nations/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

May 18, 2006

Senior N. Korean Scientist Defects

[Updated 5/18; scroll down.] The bad news is that he’s headed for South Korea, which will try to keep a tight lid on him: According to the official at the South Korean human rights group, the North Korean defector headed a provincial committee of the General Federation of Science and Technology of Korea while in the communist state. If he comes to the South, the defector would be the highest ranking scientist from the reclusive North ever to defect to...

Defectors/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/WMD

Category: Refugees