| Submit your comments on this article | |
| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| Increasing Numbers of Nork Refugees Head to Thailand | |
| 2010-01-04 | |
Speaking in Chinese, one woman says they just arrived and asks where exactly they are, but she does not want to say where they came from or how they got here. "Don't ask this. So many things are not good to ask. We don't dare say," she said. The refugees reach Thailand by crossing the Mekong River from Laos after a dangerous journey across China. Thai immigration authorities say they took more than 1,000 North Koreans into custody this year, compared with less than 400 in 2008 when Beijing tightened security for the Olympics. Police superintendent Sutham Chatarsa says they come to Thailand because, unlike in China and Laos, they will not be sent home, where they could face execution. "We don't have the policy to send them back to North Korea," he said. "We want to take care of them until they are accepted into a third country. It's not the same as people coming from Cambodia or Laos. North Koreans come here because of political problems. So, we want them to get to a third country." Even so, the North Koreans are treated as illegal immigrants before being allowed to go to South Korea or another country. Lawmakers from 12 countries met in Thailand in November to raise attention to the plight of North Koreans fleeing their impoverished and repressive nation. South Korean lawmaker Kim Yong-tae says they often face abuse because of their illegal status. "We need to cooperate with each other to pressure Chinese or the other country governments to give them legal status. And second, we need to offer some conditions for them to sustain their livelihoods," he said. Thai authorities say they expect the number of North Korean refugees to continue to grow next year as more choose take the dangerous journey to freedom. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 WMF > 2010 YEAR OF THE TIGER: THREE PRIORITIES FOR CHINA, MANY WORLD STATES IN FACE OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC TROUBLES ARE CONTROL OF INFLATION; IMPROVEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND DOMESTIC ECONOMIC PROTECTIONISM, AND REDUCTION IN INTERNATIONAL GEOPOL, ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES. Espec vee the US. * SAME > UK MEDIA "2009 CHINA REPORT" {Financial Times]: SINO-US MILITARY AND GEOPOL STRUGGLE IN THE PACIFIC APPEARS INCREASING INEVITABLE. DISAPPEARANCE OF COLD WAR US STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES AGZ CHINA, ASIA. GLOBAL ORDER AND HEGEMONY CAN QUICKLY CHANGE DUE TO SUDDEN SHIFTS IN THE PACIFIC POWER BALANCE BTWN CHINA + USA. * SAME > SOUTH KOREA ALARMED AT CHINA'S NEW STRATEGIC/GEOPOL "DISINTEREST" IN THE KOREAS; + YEAR 2020: INDIA AS A "MAJOR GLOBAL SUBSIDIARY STATE" FOR THE US AND EUROPE. INDIA MAY OVERTAKE THE USA AS THE WORLD'S LARGEST ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATION. MAJOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS, ENERGY STATE. ADVANCED MICRO-TECHNOLOGIES BASTION. ARTIC > OTOH, at the same time, India come Year 2020 or shortly thereafter may be comprised of 50 domestic Indian States instead of the present 28, + wid a tote national population of approximately 1.5BILYUHN Persons. Each of the new 50 Indian sub-states may have an average population of 30.0MILYUHN. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-04 20:29 |
| #6 ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > VIDEO: MISSION SUBCONTINENT 2012 [Indian Sub-Continent = SOuth Asia]. Year 2012 or shortly thereafter > INDIA MAY BREAK UP INTO 11 NEW SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES??? versus * GLOBAL TIMES.CN VIDEO > INDIAN SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS: 2000 NORTHEAST SOLDIERS [UNLF] DEFEAT 55,000 INDIAN ARMY SOLDIERS IN MANIPUR. INDIA HAS LOST CONTROL OF LARGE PARTS/SWATHES OF LAND IN THE NORTHEAST. POSTER > 1.3MILYUHN Indian Army profess or dedicated soldiers are fighting [but have NOT YET been able to effec defeat] 20,000 Maoist Freedom Fighters. * PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM POSTER > Year 2025 = INDIA may break up into 25 different Countries-Nations according to UN-US Joint Report. ME > And CHINA? RUSSIA'S FAR EAST? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-04 20:10 |
| #5 What can the UN do about refoulment? For starters they can try to talk the Thai government out of involuntary repatriation. Perhaps it is a money issue: Thailand has "hosted" millions of refugees since the 1970s and is getting tired of the problem and the expense. Or, perhaps the UN could help the refugees to resettle somewhere else. A completely outrageous suggestion, of course, would be to expect the UN to do something about the conditions in Burma/Myanmar that caused these folks to leave their homeland in the first place. |
| Posted by: NV_Smith 2010-01-04 12:18 |
| #4 Maybe Thailand should issue the Nork Immigrants weapons and settle them in the south - fighting Islamowackos might look better than going home. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-01-04 09:23 |
| #3 What can they do, NV_Smith, if the Thai government isn't interested in complying with their orders? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-04 09:16 |
| #2 This is interesting considering that the Thai government is in the process of forcibly repatriating Burmese refugees (refoulment, in legal terms). One wonders what steps the UN and/or UNHCR will take in either case. |
| Posted by: NV_Smith 2010-01-04 08:25 |
| #1 Meanwhile, INDIA > has repor ordered its law enforcement + Army to be on the lookout for illegal PAKISTANI REFUGEES fleeing the violence in thier country. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-04 00:49 |