Posted on 11/23/2006 3:32:12 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
BEIJING, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Mongolia said on Thursday it would act humanely towards refugees from North Korea, but denied plans to set up camps for those escaping the impoverished communist state under sanctions for a nuclear test.
North Korea may be slipping into famine, triggering a fresh surge of refugees headed towards China, Mongolia and other Asian countries, reports from aid workers and think-tanks have warned.
During his first trip to China as Mongolian prime minister, Miyeegombiin Enkhbold told reporters in Beijing that his country would take refugees, while rejecting media reports that Mongolia would establish refugee camps.
"There are cases (of) some illegal entrants of people into Mongolian territory. Of course in that case we always treat from the humanitarian point of view," Enkhbold said when asked about North Korean refugees.
"In some news there are rumours that Mongolia is preparing to receive refugees and setting up refugee camps, but this kind of news is groundless."
Mongolia, an ally of the United States, is seen by North Korean refugees as a stepping stone to South Korea and a safer haven than China, where tens of thousands of North Korean refugees live despite efforts by the Chinese government to keep them out.
Mongolia signed a friendship treaty with North Korea in 2002 but is also a darling of the Bush administration for its democratic governance and support for the war in Iraq.
Around 500 North Koreans are already thought to trickle into Mongolia each month, mostly through China, Stephen Noerper, a Mongolia specialist and head of the Institute of International Education's Scholar Relief Fund, told Reuters recently.
An aid worker warned on Monday that North Korea may be slipping into famine, based on reports from refugees of food shortages and the suspension of international aid after the country's nuclear test on Oct. 9.
Starvation across North Korea in the 1990s stirred a surge of citizens seeking to escape the isolated fortress state.
Some North Koreans also arrive legally in Mongolia under an agreement between the two governments and work in light industry and infrastructure projects such as road construction, analysts say.
But Ulan Bator is nervous about upsetting its neighbour China over refugees, which may be one reason it is keen to avoid setting up camps.
NUCLEAR SANCTIONS
Enkhbold also said he did not want to see nuclear proliferation and hoped to achieve a diplomatic resolution of North Korea's nuclear crisis, which sharply escalated after it tested the atomic device, prompting U.N.-backed sanctions.
Pyongyang has since agreed to return to six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons, but no date has been set for the negotiations, which involve the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.
"Mongolia always supported a nuclear weapon free zone. In regard to the ... U.N. resolution on North Korea nuclear issue, Mongolia is willing to implement that resolution," Enkhbold said.
On Thursday, Enkhbold also signed a $100 million cooperation agreement with China, of which $82 million will go toward building a hydropower plant in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.
The remainder would fund cooperation for construction and industrial equipment, Xinhua news agency reported.
Question do Mongolians want North Koreans
It seems not...
I see
We should take them then.
I could see that as a possibility. However, the NK regime is very good at sending out spies.
I dunno.
They could be deprogrammed at Wal-Mart.
Things that make one go: Hmmm....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1737561/posts
.............FRegards
Mexico should take them.......!
Especially since they have lowered prices in the last couple of weeks :)
Thanks for the link.
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