China’s Loathesome Treatment of North Korean Children

I make no secret of my contempt for the Chinese dictatorship, because the Chinese dictatorship holds humanity in contempt. It cuts down the hopes of its people with machine guns and crushes them under tanks. It considers itself entitled to intrude into and oppress their aspirations anywhere on earth. It murders innocent refugees, then it forces their innocent and vulnerable children to live in terror:

According to the foster father, who preferred to remain anonymous, “It is illegal [so] we are not allowed to receive any foreign aid.” “I tell others that I am taking care of my relatives’ children…It is obvious that none of their relatives can take care of these children,” he said.

Many of the children in his care were left stranded after their North Korean mothers were forcibly repatriated by Chinese authorities. Others were abandoned as their mothers fled hunger and oppression for a new life in South Korea.

“First, they called me “˜auntie,”‘ said Lee Eun Hye, a Chinese national of Korean ethnicity who helps care for the children. “They said, “˜Auntie, I feel like crying…because the song you were singing speaks of longing for one’s mother.'”

According to 10-year-old Yeon Ah, who draws repeated rainbow scenes of happy children running around, her favorite story is Cinderella. “I like it, because Cinderella’s mother passed away, but still loves her from where she is, in heaven,” she said. [Radio Free Asia]

This ought to be a scandal, and would be if the Human Rights Industry had not lost all moral perspective. I’d be happy to see the way China treats refugees and their children get even half the attention devoted to the “rights” of a mass-murdering abortion poster child like Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

Until the 2008 Olympics, one could credibly argue that time and trade would gradually moderate China’s brutality. The opposite has proven to be true, and China is clearly migrating toward a fascist and nationalist model of government. To wish this regime well in spite of its determined resistance to reform or openness — and in spite of its proliferation of oppression to North Korea, Sudan, Burma, Zimbabwe, and Iran — is to yearn for a future in which a greater share of humanity will be subject to torture and slavery. There are, of course, plenty of outspoken advocates for the slavery of everyone but themselves, but such a view is inherently conceited, selfish, and contemptuous of the majority of humanity implicitly deemed unfit to live and speak freely. But the majority of the Chinese people deserve a real, accountable government, not a cabal of unelected thugs who treat children like this.

If you want to help North Korean refugees, give LiNK another vote by clicking on the icon on my sidebar.

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46 Responses

  1. This ought to be a scandal, and would be if the Human Rights Industry had not lost all moral perspective.

    If by “industry” you mean the organizations, I would agree with you, but I wouldn’t be so quick to brand the individuals in those organizations in that way, certainly not “all” of them. The link you provide, in fact, is a news story about an Amnesty International senior official accusing her own charity of “putting the human rights of Al-Qaeda terror suspects above those of their victims.”

    I think a more nuanced view is important here because it then allows for more support to be given to the people who think like you. Amnesty International does a lot of good work, as far as I’m aware, and I think it would be more productive to nudge it back toward a reasoned perspective rather than tossing aside the whole organization.

    Just my two cents. I might be reading into your comment more than you intended.

  2. The individual quoted in that article is dissenting against the position taken by the greater organization. I did not say that all of those involved with Amnesty had lost all moral perspective. But I submit that the greater organization has.

  3. Certainly no organisation is or should be above criticism like this. And indeed Amnesty and HRW have made and do make mistakes. When it comes to speaking out against the likes of China though, I think they have much more balls than our governments do, and I’d imagine they’d be much more likely to raise this issue publicly than the latter.

  4. This is indeed scandalous, to say the least – do you think President Obama’s attack dog (Joe Biden) or Secretary of State Clinton’s husband (Bill Clinton) could use their high profile “talents” to help… and not hurt this crisis?!

  5. You would think Robert Gibbs, quoting our “mature relationship” with China would have the balls to bring this matter up (hint: stateless children, foreign aid).

  6. Or what about President Obama, himself – if he’s willing to meet with the Dalai lama why isn’t he willing to advocate on behalf of poor stateless children based on this “mature relationship” with China?

  7. JS,

    I am genuinely interested in knowing what exactly you want the Chinese government to do with these talbukjas and their children left behind. Do you want the Chinese government to send them all to South Korea or the US? Are you preparing to accept all of them? Who is going to foot the bill?

  8. I am genuinely interested in what Ernst has to say as he is probably the most politically powerful here but for some reason chooses not disclose that fact.

  9. Juche, You always raise this red herring question when not even you can offer a defense to the conduct of the Chicom dictatorship and the way it treats these kids. As I’ve said before, China needs to stop violating the Refugee Convention, South Korea needs to take them in, and the United States and Japan should give financial support for resettling them.

  10. Hmmm… the article you cite appears to be blocked in the PRC (*ahem*), so I can’t really read it (which sucks). However, maybe these kids are at least getting more to eat than most of their NK counterparts? At least I don’t hear about people starving in China.

    Anyway, I can understand that you have issues with the Chinese gov’t (aka “dictatorship”), but I still don’t think it’s comporable to the North Korean situation.

    For North Korea, a clearly better alternative exists–the current gov’t folds and a German type reunification scenario occurs, which produces some instability in S. Korea and China in the short term, but is for the benefit of Korea and Koreans in the long term.

    For China, what is your desired scenario? There’s no popular will for an overthrow of the current gov’t. Giving back control of a small mountainous region, home to a few million people, could foment revolts in many other places in China, leading to grave consequences for most ordinary Chinese.

    Certainly, there is room to challenge the gov’t on many policies. Investigating building practices in Sichuan is a good example. This is the kind of thing doesn’t directly threaten Chinese stability or growth and may help get the public involved more, which is a good thing, and may plant the seeds for bigger changes later on.

    I like your website a lot, but I honestly disagree with your statement that the “Chinese dictatorship holds humanity in contempt”. Go visit India. You can see democracy in a very divided land with no real central authority and a population that continues to grow out of control. Tell me if you think people’s lives are better there. I just didn’t see that.

    Could the Chinese gov’t change in many respects? Yes. Is it simply a heartless “dictatorship” bent on self-aggrandizement at the expense of the people like NK? I honestly haven’t seen that at all.

  11. According to the full RFA story, some of the children have Chinese fathers. This makes them eligible for Chinese citizenship, and if their births were registered, then they are Chinese citizens only as China does not recognize dual citizenship. The children with two North Korean parents appear to be refugees according to the UN Convention although 中国不存在refugee,只有入出管理法办事,只有非法移民,法移民的区别, right, Biff?

  12. I dunno, Sonagi. I couldn’t read the article, to get details. I’m not sure why kids with Chinese fathers couldn’t register, unless there is no way to naturalize the mothers at all.

    I don’t agree with the PRC immigration policy. However, given their position vis a vis NK, I understand that it might be difficult to start publicly accepting “refugees”. I just don’t think the policy of deporting North Koreans means that the Chinese gov’t doesn’t care about anyone (I think they are generally “utilitarian” to a fault, and are willing to mercilessly sacrifice thousands–especially non-Han Chinese–for stability that they think may save ten thousands). Clearly, if the U.S. accepted all the Mexicans that came across its borders, it would be better for many of the Mexicans involved. I realize that the situations are not the same at all (in that what is ocurring in North Korea can potentially be considered genocide), but the Mexicans (and others) that cross the U.S. border illegally also do so for powerful reasons.

    Anyway, you seem to be pretty familiar with the Chinese situation, and you’re right that that is what the Chinese authorities would probably say. In the U.S., it’s the same, though, right? We just have “laws” to protect people who can be classified as “refugees”, which I’ve learned can include people who would get beat up for cross-dressing in their home country.

    Anyway, do you think there’s a way I could help out these NK kids, being in China myself? I could certainly feed a couple myself. I agree that, ultimately, they are Koreans and belong in Korea. I guess it’s just getting them there that is the problem. I went to Dandong to see if I could find any escapees, but couldn’t find any North Koreans outside of the DPRK restaurants.

  13. Is it simply a heartless “dictatorship” bent on self-aggrandizement at the expense of the people like NK? I honestly haven’t seen that at all.

    biff, I think Joshua is too harsh on the Chinese, but I wouldn’t go as far as you do. The Chinese government spends a great deal of effort and money ensuring an absence of opposition and a monopoly on power. Yes, this ensures stability which in turn leads to more development and better lives for people, but it also means that government for both rich and poor, urban and rural alike, is frequently harsh, indifferent and unresponsive.

    Per capita incomes in China are double those in India, so the Chinese are better off, and though I haven’t been to India in close to 20 years, I’ve been all over China and I think I can safely conclude that the Chinese poor are far better than the Indian poor.

    That said, China could do better for its people by relaxing at least some of its authoritarian grip.

  14. Josh, thank you for all of your postings and all of these associated commentaries…I’ve been reading OFK every day for awhile now and, as you once said last year, “I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.”

  15. Per capita incomes in China are double those in India, so the Chinese are better off, and though I haven’t been to India in close to 20 years, I’ve been all over China and I think I can safely conclude that the Chinese poor are far better than the Indian poor.

    A little cultural analysis may be in order here. The Chinese are culturally Confucianist/Daoist with an ascendant Christian influence (1 in 10 Chinese is a Christian). As hollowly and hypocritically as it is practiced, they preach socialism a la Chairman Mao.

    In India, Hinduism brutally oppresses any class migration as a violation of sacred law. They are reincarnationist and therefore upward mobility is nearly impossible in Indian society – again, the only hope being if you are a Christian or a Muslim.

    There is more hope for social migration in China because its tacit toleration for Christianity and other neo-Western concepts (capitalism, anyone?). Outside a steep decline in Hindu cultural and political influence in India, they are looking at one of two scenarios: increasingly intolerable feudalism or revolution.

  16. I dunno, Sonagi. I couldn’t read the article, to get details.

    At first I suspected you were Chinese, but since you don’t know how to use a proxy to get around the GFW, you’re apparently not. I’m surprised OFK is viewable in China; at one time it was blocked.

    I’m not sure why kids with Chinese fathers couldn’t register, unless there is no way to naturalize the mothers at all.

    The mothers didn’t need to be naturalized. Being born in China and having one Chinese parent satsifies citizenship requirements. However, NK refugee mothers may have their babies at home, rather than risk arrest by going to a hospital. If the Chinese farmer has a bit of spare cash, he can probably pay off a local hospital official to produce a birth certificate.

    Clearly, if the U.S. accepted all the Mexicans that came across its borders, it would be better for many of the Mexicans involved.

    Funny you should make a comparison with Mexican immigrants to the US. First, children born in the US of undocumented immigrants are US citizens. Not true of the refugee children of two NK parents in China. Second, undocumented children are legally entitled to a free public education and education-related benefits like free breakfast and lunch. The children of Chinese migrant workers are often seen roaming the streets of Chinese cities because their parents’ lack of local registration (hukou) keeps them out of public schools and denies them other services. Some cities in the US are sanctuary cities for the undocumented and extend to them many rights and benefits accorded to legal residents, including subsidized housing. Oh, and back in 1986, the US offered amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants, who then became citizens. Has the Chinese government ever shown any leniency to North Korean refugees?

    And let’s remember the North Korean refugees in China are refugees, not immigrants. They don’t want to stay in China, work, and make money. They want to leave China for another country, but China won’t let them leave.

    I went to Dandong to see if I could find any escapees, but couldn’t find any North Koreans outside of the DPRK restaurants.

    You. Can’t. Be. That. Dumb.

  17. Is my latest comment stuck in the spam trap? It’s not showing up in the recent comments list. I wonder which word(s) triggered the filter. Maybe I should do a repeated trial and error experiment like Chickenhead at ROKdrop.

  18. Chinese utter contempt for the North Koreans doesn’t suprise me. The Chinese don’t care for a lot of their own peeps either. If you Tibetan or Uighur, for the Han Chinese you’re just undesirable folk. Or in North Korean terms, they’re ‘hostile class’.

    Then again, the Chinese are not the only one with clan-ish tendencies. We are all just the same really. What do we care if Mexican or Afro American families put can food on the table or not ? After all, Mexicans and A-Americans don’t care a lot for us either.

    There is always a big difference between official government and its proclaimed values versus the values of the actual people living under that government.

  19. What do we care if Mexican or Afro American families put can food on the table or not ? After all, Mexicans and A-Americans don’t care a lot for us either.

    Not sure who is meant by “us,” but in my community we do care about our neighbors. Every Thursday my colleagues and I gather to assemble bags for food for all children on free and reduced lunch to take home for the weekend. The paleo eater inside me shudders as I put canned ravioli, peanut butter crackers, and juice boxes in each bag, but I would eat this stuff if I were food insecure.

  20. I agree, China is just as bad as North Korea, both governments have caused much suffering. Both governments need to be overthrown.

  21. JS,

    Thank you for clarifying where you stand on this issue. It is my understanding that the South Koreans are reluctant to take in those 30,000 to 300,000 talbukjas who allegedly live in China right now, even if they had the money (or financial assistance from the US and Japan) to resettle them. So I am saying before you ask the Chinese to stop deporting them back to the DPRK perhaps you should ask the South Koreans to start taking them all in, at least gradually?

  22. Dana,

    Perhaps you can ask the US government to fund more insurgents in China? How about setting aside $10 billion? I sure hope the Chinese don’t stupidly fund their own demise!

  23. You. Can’t. Be. That. Dumb.

    Sonagi: With a name like biff, anything is possible, right?

    Seriously, though, you didn’t answer my question. How would you go about finding and helping NK refugees in China? I know I could support charities that do this, but I’m in China myself and have a personal interest in this. If we just complain on this message board, but don’t do anything personally, what’s the point?

  24. Juchechosunmanse wrote:

    So I am saying before you ask the Chinese to stop deporting them back to the DPRK perhaps you should ask the South Koreans to start taking them all in, at least gradually?

    I’m sorry, JCM, but that is utter nonsense. For the past decade, going back three administrations, the South has been expanding its capabilities for bringing in thousands of refugees into the ROK, so it is pure fantasy that China is deporting them back to the DPRK because no one will take them.

    In fact, the opposite is true. Chinese police have violated the sovereign territory of the ROK and Japan to try to grab North Korean refugees out of their consulates so they could, presumably, repatriate them to the North. They do this repeatedly.

    Really, you’re talking out your arse.

  25. Kushibo,

    OK, hear me out, will you? How many talbukjas are currently living(hiding) in China? From what I heard it is anywhere between 30,000 and 300,000. How many talbukjas have made their way to South Korea? About 19,000 I heard. If there are indeed 300,000 of them in China, 19,000 is just a drop in the bucket. What about the rest of those in China? Since sonagi proclaims that they are really refugees and none of them want to stay in China, I’d think South Korea could get them all to South Korea if it wanted to, right? Why can’t they build 50 more Hanawon centers? If the two Koreas were to be reunified one day, you are going to need them anyway, right?

    Also, I would urge you, JS, Sonagi and those who are highly critical of the Chinese government’s treatment of these poor talbukjas to think it through: It is my understanding that all of you want China to stop sending these poor folks back to the DPRK. I am with you here. However, what’s next? Should China grant them citizenship to allow them to continue to live in China? Should China turn an blind eye on them and allow them to leave China (to make Sonagi happy) and travel to South Korea via places like Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand etc.? Should China and South Korea actively work together to round up everyone and fly them directly from China to South Korea? If China/South Korea were to allow every talbukja that enters China to go on to South Korea, wouldn’t that completely destabilize and shake the North Korean society? Everyone, I am telling you, everyone will be dashing toward the Chinese border. What does China do then? What does South Korea do then? Have you all thought it through?

  26. I know I could support charities that do this, but I’m in China myself and have a personal interest in this. If we just complain on this message board, but don’t do anything personally, what’s the point?

    Give money. Balloons cost money. Radios cost money. Sheltering refugees costs money. There are already plenty of well-meaning amateurs who’ve mucked things up and risked the lives of refugees. If you really care, give money and leave the refugee hunting to the Chinese police. Your cut and paste ode to Dear Leader doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in your discretion, maturity, or loyalty.

  27. Should China grant them citizenship to allow them to continue to live in China? Should China turn an blind eye on them and allow them to leave China (to make Sonagi happy) and travel to South Korea via places like Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand etc.?

    It’s not a matter of making me happy. It’s a matter of keeping one’s word and adhering to agreements signed with the UN.

    Everyone, I am telling you, everyone will be dashing toward the Chinese border.

    Everyone with enough money to bribe the guards and pay off the smugglers. The re-evaluation of the won has probably severely reduced the number of people with the means to leave.

  28. Juchechosunmanse wrote:

    Everyone, I am telling you, everyone will be dashing toward the Chinese border.

    Perhaps. And that might even mean an East German-style collapse of the DPRK, which is what the PRC is trying to avoid.

    And that is ultimately what’s at work: The PRC wants the DPRK as a buffer, and it is willing to throw thousands of North Korean refugees under the figurative bus — which comes with literal injury and death — in order to protect their political interests.

    This, however, is ultimately not sustainable. Even if China wishes to ignore the loss of life, China is already witnessing the emergence of a nuclear-armed North Korea, which could lead to a nuclear-armed Japan in the future (especially if the US vacates NE Asia), and that’s the last thing they want.

    The sooner China wakes up to the idea that a unified Korea (say, with US guarantees of no American bases in former DPRK territory) is now the most desirable of its long-term options, the better.

  29. Sonagi:

    You write well in English and Chinese, so I assume you must be fairly intelligent. However, some of your posts make you seem like a know it all kid who has to have it his way. First you accuse me of spending hours changing Korean characters back to Hanja to show off. Then, I tell you that that wasn’t the case (which you could have easily found out on your own with a 10 second google search before writing what you did). Now you ad hominem me for a “cut and paste ode” and call into question my “loyalty”? Really? If you actually read my whole post you’d see it was more like a death wish for KJI. I suppose, by your logic, your use of the term “Dear Leader” (caps as original) also calls into question your loyalty.

    Please, dude. You don’t have to win every contest. I’m not an “amateur” when it comes to China, and clearly you aren’t either. It’s easy to throw money at issues, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there are also people who have to get their hands dirty sometimes. I’m sure there are many in South Korea that can support balloon launches and radio broadcasts from their side of the boarder. I, however, am in China and I think I can potentially help in other ways being here and having certain resources at my disposal. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on pulling a Robert Park.

    Hopefully, we’re all visiting this site because we actually care about the issues discussed here and would like to find ways to help. Hopefully, you can at least respect that.

  30. “Ad hominem” means a personal attack. If you, in fact, typed out that KJI anthem yourself and didn’t simply cut and paste it from a website, then I sincerely apologize. I wonder why a smart, trilingual guy like you would go to the trouble, though.

  31. You’re up early, Sonagi. =9 Either that or you’re in my neck of the woods. I know what ad hominem means. Of course I cut and paste. It’s the whole sentence that’s ad hominem (challenging my personal discretion, maturity and loyalty–if you just said it’s silly I’d agree with you–but that song makes me crack up–especially if I picture fat little KJI marching to its beat or saluting). And who says I’m only tri-lingual?

    But, anyway, it’s cool. I don’t mind some mental exercise. Let me know if you ever stop by Shanghai. It would be interesting to meet you. I sometimes wonder how other people get interested in North Korea. The vast majority of South Koreans aren’t even interested in it, which is kind of depressing. I’ve been following NKdaily and NKeconwatch for some time, but am excited by all the discussion that actually goes on here. Hope KJI doesn’t keep us all waiting too long…

  32. Kushibo,

    You did not answer any of my questions. Actually, both China and South Korea want to avoid an East German-style collapse (Think about it, the way it is right now, a sudden collapse of the DPRK doesn’t bode well for the South) and both are trying very hard to avoid engaging in any activities/policies that would destabilize the DPRK.

    Everyone knows that China wants the DPRK to continue to act as its buffer to the Americans and the pro-US SK. There is nothing new that we didn’t already know. What do you think China should do? Specifically, what do you think China should do about those talbukjas? Don’t you see it, if China (and South Korea) openly allow everyone who sneaks into China to go to South Korea, the DPRK will collapse in a matter of years, if not months? (You might as well open the border at the DMZ to allow the North Koreans in.) Once again, is China ready for it? More importantly, is South Korea ready for it? After all the DPRK is first and foremost a Korean problem.

    I think China well understands that a nuclear DPRK is in nobody’s interest (but the DPRK’s), after all why it has been so enthusiastic in terms of inducing the DPRK to come back to the 6-party talks? However China can’t do much about the DPRK, Beijing doesn’t yield that much influence on Pyongyang. Both Beijing and Pyongyang know clearly where China’s weak spot is: China simply can’t afford not to keep propping up the DPRK. After weighing the pros and cons, I think China has come to the conclusion that at least for the moment a nuclear DPRK is better than a collapsed DPRK.

    Korean reunification is a matter of time, regardless of whether China (Japan too) likes it or not. The question is, how should the reunification take place? Neither China nor South Korea prefers a sudden collapse of the DPRK and both prefer building up the North Korean economy first. I am simply asking whether you guys have thought it through when you ask China to let them all leave China: what consequences and implications will a drastic change in Chinese policy with regard to handling those talbukjas trigger and are we all prepared for them?

  33. I did answer your questions, just not directly.

    The problem with your point of view is that you seem to suggest that China and South Korea are in on it together, that their goals are the same, and they are not. Both are afraid of a sudden DPRK collapse, but not for all the same reasons.

    One big difference is that South Koreans generally think Korean reunification is inevitable (even if the mechanism or the timing isn’t known), while China thinks it can possibly be staved off forever.

    China likes the status quo, whereas South Korea doesn’t like the status quo nor the replacement for the status quo.

  34. Don’t you see it, if China (and South Korea) openly allow everyone who sneaks into China to go to South Korea, the DPRK will collapse in a matter of years, if not months? (You might as well open the border at the DMZ to allow the North Koreans in.)

    I’m amused that the same fellow who dismisses the possibility of PLA troops crossing into a collapsing North Korea keeps spinning dire tales of talbukja swarming across the border. Your scenario assumes that a) many North Koreans know how their country compares to the South; and b) have the means to escape. Neither can be assumed.

  35. Sonagi,

    You have a point there. I guess I got carried away by the infectious assertiveness and self-righteousness we DPRK watchers/followers profess. What can I say?

    Kushibo,

    Of course China and South Korea have very different agendas. However, the fact that both try to avoid a sudden collapse of the DPRK means both are not ready for the consequences of a destabilizing DPRK. That’s what I have been asking you: What do you propose China should do about those talbukjas? What should China’s coherent policy be with regard to those folks (not sending them back and what else?)? Can I get a straight answer?

  36. Juchechosunmanse wrote:

    What do you propose China should do about those talbukjas? What should China’s coherent policy be with regard to those folks (not sending them back and what else?)? Can I get a straight answer?

    Do what Seoul asks. And that is not rounding them up and sending that back for almost certain imprisonment, and possibly torture and/or death.

    Stop hiding behind the idea that Beijing is doing what Seoul wants in this regard. If Beijing did not have an aggressive catch-and-return policy, there would be a better chance to deal with the situation more effectively, whether that meant immediately sending them to the South, setting up holding facilities in China or Mongolia where some of the assimilation activities of Hanawon could be done while they’re waiting, etc.

  37. You have a point there. I guess I got carried away by the infectious assertiveness and self-righteousness we DPRK watchers/followers profess. What can I say?

    Nothing from now on, lest you infect others with your assertiveness and self-righteousness.

  38. Sonagi,

    When it comes to being assertive and self-righteous, you guys are light years ahead of me. You still have a lot to teach me. Perhaps I should start by chanting “Down with the evil DPRK, long live the glorious ROK!”

    Kushibo,

    Exactly what does Seoul want? What has Seoul asked? I know Seoul probably has asked China to stop rounding them up and sending them back to the DPRK. What then? What else? Does Seoul have a long-term solution/strategy other than asking China to stop sending them back to the DPRK? What has Seoul suggested China should do about those hiding in China? Let them be? We will fly them over soon?

  39. Juchechosunmanse wrote:

    Does Seoul have a long-term solution/strategy other than asking China to stop sending them back to the DPRK? What has Seoul suggested China should do about those hiding in China? Let them be? We will fly them over soon?

    I do not know what that will be, but it will be something, because the status quo will not — cannot — continue if the PRC stops aggressively rounding up North Korean defectors and sending them back to DPRK authorities.

    I do not know because PRC’s policy prevents us from resolving the issue in another way. In order to find a solution (setting up interim holding facilities in China or Mongolia, merely allowing them to stay in China until they can be “processed” and sent to South Korea or a third country, expanding Hanawon-type facilities in South Korea, and/or encouraging migration to the US, Canada, or other countries, etc.), China must first end its aggressive policy of rounding up North Korean refugees and sending them back to North Korea, or at least ending the policy in conjunction with an agreed policy for handling the refugees.

    The point is: No solution can be made as long as China continues the current policy.

  40. Kushibo,

    “No solution can be made as long as China continues the current policy.”

    Agreed. However I am not sure how active and widespread China’s practice of sending them back to the DPRK is. Does China actively try to locate each and every one of those 30,000 to 300,000 talbukjas? Do you have any data on how many people have been sent back to the DPRK so far?

  41. Juchechosunmanse, I’m not an expert with the appropriate data. I rely on other people here and at the sites linked by Joshua for that, among other places.

    But whether they actively try to search each and every one or whether they do it on an ad hoc or temporary basis, they still do it. You yourself have acknowledged that it’s significant, or else there would be a flood of such refugees.

    However strenuously China’s policy on the North Korean refugees is enforced, it has a chilling effect on the refugees. They live in fear, they can’t seek the help they need, and thus they are easily preyed upon by evil people who take advantage of them. This is the direct result of China’s policy, not South Korea’s.

  42. China is in a delicate situation and it must tread carefully (it certainly can’t afford to completely alienate the North Koreans), but yes, I agree China’s talbukja policy has a lot of room for improvement. South Korea though needs to step up to offer more help for these poor folks either by working with China to make sure the rights of these staying in China are not violated (since they are ROK citizens as far as the South Korean government is concerned) or helping them get to South Korea.

  43. Again, Juchechosunmanse, the ball is in China’s court. South Korea (and Japan and the US) have protested China’s policies, including when China illegally went into South Korean and Japanese consulates with the intent of dragging out North Koreans who sought refuge there. It is China that needs to finally acknowledge that their policy is immoral and cruel.

    But the chances of that happening are about as slim as Chinese students in South Korea respecting the rights of free speech.

  44. How does the abhorrent behavior of some Chinese students in Seoul in 2008 have anything to do with this discussion?

    Yes I said I agree the Chinese government should change/improve its talbukja handling policy (stop sending them back to the DPRK and stop harrassing them in general), but again, the South Koreans need to step up to the plate and do their share too. So basically you want those talbukjas to live in China comfortably without any fear and that’s it? If they were truly considered ROK citizens or nationals, shouldn’t you do more to help them get to South Korea?

  45. Juchechosunmanse wrote:

    How does the abhorrent behavior of some Chinese students in Seoul in 2008 have anything to do with this discussion?

    Well, although I did write that as a glib example of what I think is a low likelihood, I think it does underscore what the problem is: China and the Chinese people, in the aggregate, do not value the rights of others (and often not their own people).

    To easily “ensure” China’s security, send North Koreans back to their deaths (at the hands of a regime we prop up for our own security).

    To protect our national good feelings? Batter people who dare to disagree with us, even if we’re in their country. That made me particularly angry, not only because it happened just minutes from my home in Seoul, but also because I saw the same thing going on here in Honolulu.

    I’d say my representation was apt.