Here is some rare good news in regards to the plight of North Korean refugees:
The U.S. will soon admit more than 30 North Korean defectors from a Thai refugee camp. Radio Free Asia quoted aid workers helping North Korean refugees in Thailand as saying Washington has completed identity checks on 24 of them and collected fingerprints of eight others. On Oct. 12, the Bangkok office of the International Organisation for Migration began the finger printing, which will end this week.
It remains to be seen whether the 32 North Korean defectors will leave for the U.S. in one group or several. According to the aid workers, no other North Korean defectors are seeking asylum in the U.S., discouraged by the long wait of more than one year. [Chosun Ilbo]
The US can and should do more in regards to admitting more North Korean refugees into the United States which is made possible by the North Korean Human Rights Act. Since the passage of the act in 2004 very few North Koreans have been admitted into the United States. This is the largest single instance of admitting North Korean refugees into the US that I have seen yet. Admitting North Korean refugees is one way of undermining the Kim Jong-il regime without open warfare that should be encouraged. The more North Koreans that defect the more destabilized North Korea becomes, which for the people in the gulags is a good thing.
However, admitting North Korean refugees is only the first part to what should be a larger strategy of preparing for post-Kim Jong-il North Korea. These refugees admitted into America should be part of the larger strategy by giving them education and training in jobs that will need to be immediately filled in North Korea such as teachers, doctors, policemen, government administrators, economic specialists, etc. Such lack of long term planning and strategy helped lead to the initial problems in Iraq and the US should not repeat the same mistakes with North Korea.
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10:27 am on October 18th, 2007 1
[...] defectors will leave for the U.S. in one group or several.” More as the story develops. (h/t ROK Drop) Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
10:27 am on October 18th, 2007 2
[...] defectors will leave for the U.S. in one group or several.” More as the story develops. (h/t ROK Drop) Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
1:26 pm on October 18th, 2007 3
You can take in as many Chinese Koreans pretending to be North Koreans as you like. I just wonder how much sympathy your public would have toward this kind of immigration under false pretenses.
3:14 pm on October 18th, 2007 4
Tom they are really North Koreans I’m not sure what you are talking about, if deported they are going straight back to mother DPRK’s gulag system.
3:47 pm on October 18th, 2007 5
Tom doesn’t know what he is talking about. These 32 were all investigate and had background checks done on them before being admitted into the United States.
8:22 pm on October 18th, 2007 6
I hope these earnestly struggling North Koreans don’t decide to stay in the US and create a decent life for themselves. Americans wouldn’t appreciate the efforts of foreigners trying to improve themselves materially, and, well, what real Americans cares about spirituality, except for the appearance thereof. I hope the government gave them a contract in which these vectors agreed to learn how to contaminate North Korea, thereby leaving the US before they were ever noticed. I also hope there are no Chalabi’s in this group.
Until the US fixes its immigration system (and healthcare and pensions, where most Americans really would see the bill), so that any person in the world can make a real decision about coming and staying in the US, I am opposed to sslective waivers for Washington faddish pet projects. I would like to think immigrants would want to reform their own societies not because Washington experimented on them, but because they really did like the US and wanted to bring a little piece to the folks back home. That would include having a fair immigration system.
1:03 am on October 19th, 2007 7
GI,
This is good news for the 32, but it only strengthens my argument so far why can’t the US make room for the 85 or so women whose only crime was their husbands died before their immigration paperwork was done.
http://thefloridamasochist.blogspot.com/2007/10/carla-freeman-no-justice.html
That policy even makes less sense in light of the above news. Till recently, spouses of American soldiers who fell into the widow penalty trap, would face deportation too.(I forget the name of the case, but the original legal precedent for these deportations involved a military widow) That’s been rectified but the rest of this stupidity of immigration policy continues.
I linked into your post. As always, ROK Drop is one of my favorite blogs.
Cheers,
Bill
1:28 am on October 19th, 2007 8
If we got room for 32……..
The US will admit North Korea refugees now in Thailand. Now how about stopping the deportation of 85 women going through the legal immigration hurdles, just because their US citizen husbands died too early….
2:39 am on November 4th, 2007 9
[...] Hat tip- ROK Drop [...]
2:10 am on January 1st, 2008 10
[...] #13 - October - US admits 32 North Korean defectors. [...]