North Korea Murders Five Refugees Inside Chinese Territory

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1. “Kim Jong-Un . . . has ordered soldiers to shoot anyone who tries to cross the border without permission, . . . called for a crackdown on North Korean escapees living in China, [and] . . . denounced the refugees for undermining the communist state’s ideological foundations.”

   If Kim Jong-un wasn’t already the most hated man in North Korea, he surely is now. This regime is starting to crack.

   Jeffery Hodges

   * * *

2. Kim Il Sung’s Statue on hill will survive. After the dismantlement of the regime it will be a tourist attraction for the world, It will not be the Americans who attack Pyongyang in the end. When the Peoples’ Republic of China march through the streets of Pyongyang, it will have been after the final Nuclear Test by the DPRK.

   In this year the DPRK will perform it’s first and last Above ground Nuclear test.

   THe United States will remind Beijing why their little brother is a Monster. Finally China will listen in Fall/Autumn 2011.

3. And…Amnesty International shows its irrelevance again:
   http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA25/004/2010/en/f74db8b1-9c4f-46f9-9c20-59d177c879c5/asa250042010en.html

4. “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough.” ~ The Gulag Archipelago

5. The linked Chosun Ilbo asserts that the shooting by DPRK border guards of North Korean refugees on the Chinese side of the river/border is a new phenomenon (attributed of course to Kim Jong Eun, who was last in Hyesan last month, but who needs corroborating details anyway?).

   The only problem with the “deadly escalation on the border thanks to the murderous Kim Jong Eun” trope is that it blatantly contradicts the Times of London report (and Tim Peters, via this entry of yours) which asserted similar policies in 2008, and did so far more colorfully, attributing gigantic Russian sniper rifles to the border guards. (It’s these kind of details that make a story really stick in one’s mind, in case North Korean malfeasance were insufficient on its own terms.) Given the absence of other narratives or sources, it’s fine to rely on these single-source stories from the border — and yes, there is nothing about this Chosun Ilbo story just yet on the Changbai city webpages or the Jilin provincial government pages or the Huanqiu Shibao or the National Defense Journal in China, and I was in Beijing rather than Jilin province on the day of the alleged atrocity — but how is it possible to have it both ways?

   Are North Korean border guards already gunning people down on the border, or are we just supposed to forget about all that and go with the Chosun Ilbo flow here? As they write:

   North Korean border guards had never shot at defectors once they reached the Chinese side. Observers say guards must have new instructions for dealing with defectors.

   Leader Kim Jong-il’s son and heir Jong-un has apparently ordered border guards to shoot anyone who crosses the border rivers without permission. He also reportedly said he would not tolerate defectors crossing the border.

   North Korean border guards are reportedly now armed with an AK 47 rifle loaded with live ammunition, 40 reserve shells in their ammunition, and hand grenades.

   New orders? Yes, brand new “shoot-to-kill” orders from Kim Jong Eun! What happened to the Russian sniper rifles? I thought the North Koreans were the ones with the Memory Hole.

   Thanks in any case for posting the story, I appreciate your putting it out there for discussion.

6. Remember, the North Korean border guards crossed the Tumen into China to arrest Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

7. Adam, There may be a legitimate quibble about whether this represents an escalation, depending on whether you still dispute that China allows North Korean abduction squads to operate on its territory. Surely you’re not denying that this is horrible, or that it merits further investigation by some credible NGO. I’d say you’re seizing on a pedantic issue here, except that your reasoning seems to be as follows: (a) the Chosun Ilbo calls this an escalation; (b) this is really not an escalation but part of a long-standing pattern of atrocities; (c) therefore, the Chosun Ilbo’s report is inaccurate and biased, meaning we should disbelieve this latest manifestation of that long-standing pattern.

   OK, you win. It’s not an escalation. I’m not sure how that calls this report into serious question.

   And for the record, I requested photographic evidence of the use of Dragunovs, and subsequently pronounced the rifles in question to be “standard wooden-stock AK’s,” not Dragunovs. Just so we’re telling it like it is.

8. Shooting at refugees and traders trying to cross into China, while rare, is not exactly new. Recall that back in June North Korean border guards shot and killed 3 Chinese nationals on the Chinese-side of the border because they suspected them of being…North Korean refugees.

   Even if the regime gives “extra meals” and whatnot to guards who shoot and kill North Koreans trying to cross into China, I’m quite certain that the bribes and products those soldiers earn from said refugees and traders are far more lucrative and appealing.

9. Looks like December 14 was quite an eventful time at the borders of North Korea and China: the next day a witness reported seeing over 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks cross the Tumen River at Sanhe, likely headed toward the port of Rajin.

   Chosun Ilbo cites a Chinese source, which I tracked down at a Singapore news website:

   报道指出，在中国和朝鲜边境一直有人目击到中国军队。在中国的朝鲜消息人士说，去年12月15日深夜，50多辆中国装甲车和战车从中国三合渡过图们江，进入朝鲜会宁。会宁和罗先特区的直线距离只有50公里。
   同时，有人在中国丹东目睹军用吉普车进入朝鲜新义州。消息人士说，中国装甲车可能用来镇压骚乱，吉普车用来管制那些偷渡到中国大陆的朝鲜难民“脱北者”。

   Zaobao.com

   A China-based source familiar with North Korean affairs said, “In the middle of the night around Dec. 15 last year, about 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks crossed the Duman (Tumen) River from Sanhe into the North Korean city of Hoeryong in North Hamgyong Province.”

   Residents were woken up by the roar of armored vehicles. Hoeryong is only about 50 km from Rajin-Sonbong. Other witnesses said they saw military jeeps running from the Chinese city of Dandong in the direction of Sinuiju in the North at around the same time.

   “The Chinese armored vehicles could be used to suppress public disturbances and the jeeps to round up on defectors from the North,” the source speculated.

   Chosun Ilbo

10. Spelunker, I don’t get it. Did Chinese forces enter North Korea to suppress public disturbances? Or were they delivering armored vehicles with which North Korean forces would suppress public disrurbances?

    In either case, if North Korean freedom fighters request support, we might think about giving them the means to destroy armored vehicles.

11. Glans wrote:

    Spelunker, I don’t get it. Did Chinese forces enter North Korea to suppress public disturbances? Or were they delivering armored vehicles with which North Korean forces would suppress public disrurbances?

    In light of what the new development that China is sending its own troops to Rajin to protect its port facilities, my speculation (and like any honest Pyongyang watcher should at this stage, I point out that my speculation is merely that, so no one will mistake it as fact or heavily supported conjecture) is that it is for Chinese forces to do whatever they need to do — including suppressing North Korean forces or the public — around Rajin/Najin/Raŏn/Nasŏn.

    In either case, if North Korean freedom fighters request support, we might think about giving them the means to destroy armored vehicles.

    You make a very good point there, Glans, and I hope people are paying attention to it.

12. Quite a lot to untangle on Rason. (@Spelunker, your Singapore/Zaobao link is busted.)

    Chinese links
    Chinese Foreign Ministry issues an almost comically terse denial of Chinese troops in Rasona longer take on the Chosun Ilbo story, and the Chosun Ilbo text itself, is all over the Chinese blogs (including some sponsored by important official sites).

    In the meantime, Huanqiu Shibao reports on North Korea’s revised drive to 2020 with a subtle smash that the DPRK can no longer have a “slogan-based economy”; a Huanqiu-sponsored blog headlined “North Korea: Use More Chinese Cell Phones to Open Faster” is actually a short report from Malaysia on Kim Jong Un’s “Reign of Terror.” There is a rather thoughtful meditation at the end on this Chinese military blog about the veracity of the present allegations of Chinese troops in Rason, in the light of apparently retracted allegations on the Phoenix site dating from late October, supposedly drawn from US satellite images, that 15,000 Chinese soldiers had moved into the Pyongyang area.

    English links
    Global Times denies the “Chinese Troops in Rason” story in more depth here, leaving open the possibility that a vague team of “Chinese negotiators” went to Rason.

    In other news you may not have heard, on December 23, the Huanqiu Shibao carried a prominent full back-page, first-hand account of a visit of a Chinese reporter to Rason, the area in question. (The lengthy dispatch is translated/summarized here.) Among the more interesting disclosures and interpretations in the Huanqiu article is reporter Cheng Gang’s assessment of:

    …the deepest change of all: soldiers and military vehicles, unlike in other North Korean cities, are seldom seen, particularly soldiers carrying guns….According to my understanding, Rajin has gotten a large number of soldiers and other special officers [特别部门] to adjust and go back to their cities, so that a more unified foreign investment can be made.

    We will see how this all plays out.

    And also, Joshua, thank you for the instructive follow up on the rifles/border shooting issue, it is appreciated.

13. I don’t know, Adam. That Global Times piece sounds a bit like a “These are not the droids you’re looking for” kinda story.

    I go with my gut, and my gut has served me well. My gut tells me not to trust official Chinese statements (or news outlets) on this matter.

14. Apologies to Adam and others who may have tried to follow the Chinese language link; I’ve been away for a while and had not created any hyperlinks lately. Here it is again:

    Zaobao.com

    Apology to Glans for any confusion about the previous post. The bit about North Korea using Chinese jeeps to round up refugees was speculation on the part of the reporter, not a fact.

    No apology to China’s Foreign Ministry, who held yet another presumptuous press conference to call the reported sighting of Chinese military movements across the border “sheer fabrication” and asserted that Beijing will not send a ”single soldier” without the approval of the United Nations.
    (No word about North Korea sending a single soldier or two to pursue refugees on China’s shore of the Tumen River.)

    Now let me tell y’all something about “sheer fabrication”: as a student at a big college I once juggled 3 girlfriends at the same time. I did an awful lot of “sheer fabrication” about my whereabouts on any given evening…. Here is the point I’m making: if the original reporter fabricated the location of Chinese tanks crossing the Tumen River as being Sanhe (三合渡) instead of Dandong or the town of Tumen, then that’s some pretty dadgum awesome fabricating! How often do we see the puny port of Sanhe mentioned in the news as a crossing point between China and North Korea? How many people even know where Sanhe is?
    Answer: it’s about 90 minutes by car from Tumen City and 60 kilometers south of Yueqing, the remote village where Laura Ling, Euna Lee, and Mitch Koss crossed the Tumen for their Current TV caper. (I just love typing those names again!) When you look at a map of this general area, the proximity to road transport through North Korea toward the “Sea of Japan” port where China maintains an invested interest is overwhelmingly obvious.
    A reporter who could fabricate a story about military movements in the middle of nowhere during the middle of the night deserves some kind of prize. It’s just too good to not be true!

15. Spelunker loves to type certain names, but I’m still hoping for his evaluation of their books; I’ve given up on Kushibo. As to the Chinese units that crossed the Tumen, I guess I’ll just wait for further reports.

16. Glans, I think you have me confused with someone who earns a living by blogging. These are my priorities, in order: (1) family matters, (2) school matters, (3) work matters, (4) fun or important stuff having nothing to do with family or school or work, (5) day-to-day blogging like the daily news roundup, (6) special topics to blog about, (7) book reviews.

    Life gets in the way of blogging. Fall semester really kicked my derriere because of major tasks falling under (1) and (2), with the constant hum of (3). During vacation, I had no vacation, as I was playing catch-up once the semester finally ended (after Christmas, since I had to get extensions). Then, since New Years, my uncle almost died, at a time when I’ve already been helping my aunt with some major legal matters, just when two major work projects came at the start of the new semester last week. The Lings’ book, which I have been steadily making my way through, with notes for an upcoming “review,” will have to wait. I am considering buying Euna Lee’s book for the Kindle I just purchased for myself, but with what precious little time I find myself having for “pleasure reading,” I’d prefer to read Barbara Demick’s book.

    But if you like, here’s my review in a nutshell so far: I still don’t see anything that redeems Ms Ling or Ms Lee vis-à-vis my criticisms over how and why they got captured, but I do feel sympathy for what they apparently went through, and I do find their book an interesting read for what it says about what people like them and presumably Mr Robert Park or Mr Aijalon Mahli Gomes go through. Also, my mother, who read my copy of the book before I did, says I shouldn’t pick on Lisa Ling or her sister in public.

17. Thank you, kushibo. Your review of Somewhere Inside, even if it’s only nutshell-sized, is the first I’ve seen by anyone who knows or cares about Korea. Do you now believe that the Nork border guards chased Euna Lee and Laura Ling across the Tumen, arrested them on the Chinese side, and dragged them back to North Korea?

    Bless your mom!

18. I don’t know whether I believe that or not, but I will say that it’s not particularly relevant: The North Korean guards were in hot pursuit of these three or four people who crossed into their territory and they chased them into DPRK-friendly territory. Now what would make a difference in my reaction would be if they had never crossed into the DPRK and the North Koreans crossed the river to get them. You may recall that, initially at least, that’s what many believed had happened, but I suspected otherwise. Again, I go with my gut, and my gut has served me well.

19. Spelunker!!!
    Whaddup, maaan?

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