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Category: Human Rights

May 16, 2006

Choi Yung Hun Still Sits in a Chinese Prison

Congratulations, to those of you whose letters, calls, and other hard work led to the admission of the first six North Korean refugees into the United States. I hereby declare an end to the congratulation period (I can do that, right?). Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (which we must have forogotten to blogroll) gives us fresh reasons to write your local ChiCom Embassy (chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn; or go here) and tell them why you won’t be attending the 2008 Olympics.
Categories "United" Nations/Activism/China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Japan & Korea/Refugees
May 15, 2006

Kofi Annan Calls on N. Korea to Account for Abductees

Well, it’s a start. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday said North Korea must be held to account for the suffering and rage of people it kidnapped and the anxiety of families who never discovered what happened to their loved ones. He called on the North to return every one of those it abducted in its bizarre campaign in the 1970s and 80s. He also called on human rights and counterfeiting to be dealt with separately from, and (impliedly) after...
Categories "United" Nations/Abductions/Counterfeiting/Human Rights/Six-Party Talks
May 14, 2006

Links of Interest

Richardson has already linked it, but I want to add is that this one could be very, very important to what happens in North Korea. The United States is considering economic sanctions on Chinese banks which have business transactions with North Korean companies allegedly implicated in the development or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a news report said Sunday. ================= Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has a message for President Junichiro Koizumi. Hyde,...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Censorship/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Diplomacy/History/Human Rights/Korean History/Korean Law/Korean Politics/News Links/NK Economics/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD
May 12, 2006

MUST READ: WSJ Interview with Newly Arrived North Korean Refugees

“Before we begin this interview, I want to thank God for bringing us to this land of dreams. We sincerely thank President George Bush and the American government for letting us enter as refugees.” She bows slightly, closes her notebook, and prepares to relive her ordeal. Just go read it. Now. A big hat tip to a reader for fowarding this one.
Categories China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 9, 2006

Sen. Brownback to Hold Press Conference on NK Refugees Tomorrow

The people of North Korea don’t have a better friend than Senator Sam Brownback. Unfortunately, you will need a press pass to get past the imperious bitch person at the front desk. Let’s just hope that that the organizations that hold this monopoly will give us reasonably complete reports (reporters and editors). Might this be a time to suggest giving more press passes to bloggers, who are much more likely to publish fairly complete reports of the politicians’ statements, the...
Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 8, 2006

We Are (Not) One, Part 2

According to this unscientific-looking survey, half of the North Koreans living in South Korea would prefer to live in the United States, despite differences of language and culture and a lifetime of anti-American brainwashing. Why? A survey conducted by the Chosun Ilbo on Monday among 100 North Korean refugees who settled in South Korea found that 50 would go to the U.S. given a choice and 46 South Korea. The others were not sure. Of those who chose the U.S.,...
Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
May 8, 2006

HRC Update

Arguably, nothing South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission does matters more than documenting and trying to prevent human rights abuses in North Korea. The HRC has often seemed reluctant to do that, and its priorities have sometimes seemed wildly disproportionate to the gravity of the matters it investigates. This time, however, it is actually looking into the impending execution of a North Korean prisoner. It’s a small step in the right direction.
Categories Human Rights/Korean Law
May 8, 2006

Kaesong Absurdities

[W]e have signs to believe that there are certain incentives for North Korean laborers working at the Kaesong complex, such as there are no complaints from workers who are asked to work overtime. — Unification Ministry Official As long as the UniFiction Ministry speaks, this blog will never lack for exquisite fisking material. With the White House standing firmly behind Human Rights Envoy Jay Lefkowitz’s concern that Kaesong fails to comply with international labor standards, (I would also raise U.S....
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
May 8, 2006

Refugees Reax, Part 2

We have learned, via the Donga Ilbo that the arrival airport was Los Angles. The Donga also speculates about the meaning of the U.S. decision to comply with its own law and concludes that the admission of “common” refugees means that the U.S. is also preparing to clamp down hard on North Korea diplomatically and economically. While I hope that’s indeed the case, the conclusion ignores the fact that plenty of those in Congress (Leach and Lantos, to name two)...
Categories "United" Nations/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
May 7, 2006

Reaction to the Arrival of North Korean Refugees

The arrival of the first six North Korean refugees — including survivors of concentration camps and sexual slavery — could mark a tipping point in the politics of North Korean human rights. The timing of the arrival is either a fortunate coincidence or the height of shrewdness. Local elections are coming up in South Korea on May 31st, and with the human rights issue having created a clear schism (see here, here, and here) between the United States and South...
Categories An Alliance?/Defectors/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Refugees/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 4, 2006

Refugees Update

[Update: Richardson picks up several other reports to the same effect. Things seem to be moving, and you have to wonder what could happen next now that the word has started to spread.] The Chosun Ilbo reports fresh signs of progress that the State Department is finally aboard the love train on North Korean refugees. A group of North Korean defectors in Southeast Asia is reportedly seeking asylum in the United States. In an interview with Korea’s Yonhap News, a...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/North Korea/Refugees/Southeast Asia/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 2, 2006

Jay Lefkowitz Is Right About Kaesong

The debate about South Korea’s role in (not) improving human rights in the North seems to intensify by the hour. Freedom House is the latest to testify for the prosecution. If you believe the latest report from the Chosun Ilbo, the State Department is reeling from the vitriolic South Korean reaction to U.S. Human Rights Envoy Jay Lefkowitz over labor conditions in North Korea’s Kaesong Industrial Park: Another U.S. government insider also said the controversial piece by Lefkowitz had not...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Media Criticism/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Law/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 2, 2006

The Forked Tongue of Lee Jong-Seok, Part 2

“At least since 2000 when we began providing assistance to the North, no one there has been starving to death,” Lee said. — UniFiction Minister Lee Jong-Seok (ht to Richardson) In sum, although the period of high famine has passed, North Korea continues to experience chronic food shortages that are hitting hard at an underemployed and unemployed urban working class in particular. . . . Moreover, given the political stratification of North Korea and the inability of the WFP to...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Censorship/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/North Korea/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views
May 2, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 37: Seoul’s Scorched Earth Retreat on Human Rights

At a comment to an earlier post by James, I listed the following as one of the accomplishments of last week’s North Korean Freedom Week: South Korea has never been more diplomatically isolated in regard to the aforementioned issues, plus on Kaesong, where it sounds increasingly desperate. South Korea’s government is giving some preliminary confirmation of that analysis, in a characteristically disordered way. The first reaction was a tantrum that almost merited a “Death of an Alliance” post. The Korean...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
May 1, 2006

Has a U.S. Embassy Accepted NK Defectors?

[Update: link fixed, thanks!] Via the Chosun Ilbo: Some five or six North Korean defectors are reportedly preparing to enter the U.S. under the protection of its embassy in a Southeast Asian country as Washington prepares to make good on a pledge to grant asylum to more refugees from the Stalinist country. Sources in the U.S. government and Congress said Thursday as soon as procedural matters with the Asian country are resolved, the North Koreans will make their way to...
Categories Activism/Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 30, 2006

Mixed News on Kaesong

The bad news is that Kaesong-made goods look to be headed toward acceptance into the ASEAN FTA. This comes via Philip Dorsey Iglauer, who has made himself infamous both for awful reporting and awful analysis, so you’ve been warned. I kind of hope Iglauer likes to google his own name, because that’s my cue to point out a story in the Donga Ilbo that’s certain to have him calling for his smelling salts: The Korean government is opposing an article...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 30, 2006

The Slavery Candidate

Former Minister of UniFiction / Uri Party Leader / presidential candidate Chung Dong-Young thinks he has found his winning issue: transforming the North into a corporate plantation, with Kim Jong Il as overseer. Chung has the additional disadvantages of being anti-American and having a self-confirmed sub-room-temperature IQ (I’ve never met Chung, but several others who have confirm that judgment). If Chung or someone like him wins the presidency, expect a rapid and mostly complete departure of America’s military contingent from...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea