Thailand and Laos Planning Mass Repatriations of N. Korean Refugees

[Update:   Please click the comment link, look for the “Digg” link at the bottom of the post,  and Digg.  The e-mail address of the Thai  Embassy is info@thaiembdc.org.]  

Two e-mail messages in as many days convey some very bad news about North Korean refugees in two Southeast Asian nations, Thailand and Laos.  Both nations, apparently seeing no U.S. objection and a new U.S. disinterest in the subject of human rights for North Koreans generally, are catching refugees and are planning to send them to their  deaths, or a fate worse than.  A reader writes:

Just caught this story on naver – It seems about 52 defectors have been aprehended by Thai authorities and if convicted of entering the country illegally are expected to be sent back to North Korea.  [Joongang Ilbo, Korean link]

That would be the first mass repatriation of North Koreans by Thailand, and a grave develpment indeed.  Then, this via Human Rights Without Frontiers:

The refugees had entered Laos on the 20^th of March from China and after being released by the border police took refuge in the mountains.  After descending to look for food and medical attention they were again arrested and four were detained, the remaining four continued on to the capital but were arrested en route.  They are now awaiting their repatriation to China and subsequently to North Korea .

All eight are women; one is just 14.  The oldest is 66.

Hello?  Amnesty?  Human Rights Watch?  U.N.?  Their answering machines say they’re all doing halal inspections of the food at Gitmo and checking the azimuth on the Mecca markers on the cell floors.  Meanwhile, dozens of innocent people are about to be sent to a fate worse than death and nobody gives a damn.  The mind-numbing hypocrisy of it all, the absolute callous disinterest in human suffering by those who claim to be the most compassionate, is the single most discouraging thing about writing this blog.  I’ve inserted Lao Embassy contacts in six nations below the break line, but the Thai situation is more grave because of the number of persons and the precedent it sets.

Lao Embassy in Australia

Embassy of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

1 Dalmain Crescent O’Malley Canberra ACT 2606

Tel: (+61 6) 286-4595, 286-6933

Fax: (+61 6) 290-1910.