What Norbert Vollertsen Is Up To These Days
Norbert will also be at the symposium in Seoul on the 27th, and we already know he never goes anywhere quietly. Among the highlights from his message:
- The Chinese are apparently holding another South Korean activist for aiding North Korean refugees.
- He also claims that the South Koreans have issued an arrest warrant for an organizer of protests against Kim Jong-Il. Now, South Korean politics can be pretty rough, and I have no details whatsoever on this, so I’ll just say he better be at least as bad as the Hangchonryong guys who hurl firebombs at our Army bases over there, since the few who were actually arrested got slaps on the wrist.
- Seoul moves to ban N. Korean human righst activists’ overseas travel to China!” Well, I can’t say how effective that will be. They can’t stop missionaries from going to Iraq, after all. Will they start arresting people? Putting them in prison? What kind of public relations beating would they take for that? Yes, I can understand that they want to avoid international incidents, but I’d like to see South Korea put half the pressure on China that they put on the United States over a few pyong of land we want to use to defend South Korea. South Korea’s number one priority rightfully should be setting up some kind of orderly departure scheme for these refugees.
- November 28, 3:00 p.m. “Protest against the South Korean Gov. and its ignorance of North Korean human rights abuses: Seoul Station Plaza.”
- Michael Horowitz of [the] Hudson Institute in Washington, one of the main authors of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 will brief South Korean officials about coming events, Dec. 1 – Dec. 11 in Seoul, more details a.s.a.p.” Hmmm. I hope he brings his food taster, because I’ve heard Michael Horowitz talk to and about officials of the South Korean government. He’s no fan of theirs, and he’s very blunt about it. Expect much uncomfortable silence afterward. Serves them right.
- December 16, 11:00 a.m. Protest at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul against China`s crackdown on North Korean refugees.”