Posted on 07/31/2003 3:56:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Ten Koreans, possibly from the communist North, sneaked into the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok on Thursday, diplomats said, apparently seeking political asylum.
The group - consisting of four men, four women, a boy and a girl - entered the embassy compound through a gate when it opened to let a car in, said embassy spokesman Toshihisa Takata. They passed beside the car shouting "North Korea" in English.
"They are safely in the building of the Japanese Embassy. We are now investigating their names and their wishes, those sorts of things," Takata told reporters.
He said they speak only Korean. "They don't speak Japanese or English but we are trying to communicate with them," he said.
"About whether or not they are trying to seek asylum we are investigating," Takata said.
A security guard stopped them inside the gate and they were escorted into the building where they were later provided lunch.
"It seems to me their health condition is normal and they seem to be reasonably relaxed at the moment," Takata said, adding that he doesn't know how long they had been in Thailand.
In the past, North Koreans have attempted to sprint into Japanese missions in China to seek political refuge.
In Tokyo, the national Kyodo News, citing unnamed sources, said the Foreign Ministry was cautioning embassies and consulates abroad that people who have fled from North Korea may be asking for protection.
In March, four people, all apparently from North Korea, entered the Japanese School in China's capital carrying letters asking for Tokyo's help in seeking asylum.
In May last year, five asylum-seeking North Koreans dashed into a Japanese consulate in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang and were forcibly removed by Chinese authorities. The incident spurred recriminations between Beijing and Tokyo.
Scores of North Korean asylum-seekers have sought refuge in foreign missions in China over past years.
As its biggest ally, China has a treaty with Pyongyang requiring it to send back any illegal escapees. Yet, it hasn't always done so in cases that have become public for fear of international backlash, and many asylum-seekers have eventually made their way to South Korea via third countries.
Actually, there are underground railroads to smuggle N. Koreans in China. Since diplomatic missions in China are no longer easy to reach, some N. Koreans travel across China from Sino-N. Korean border to S.E. China where they cross to ASEAN countries illegally and get to their final destination, Thailand.
It may be hard to believe that they bothered to travel several thousand miles, eluding Chinese securities. However, it is true.
And there was a recent outpouring from some of the usual FRacists and xenophones on this forum who screamed "not in my back yard!" "Send em back." etc etc. It is interesting to see that within both the American liberal AND conservative movements, there are still some people around who would turn a blind eye for whatever personal reasons they despise seekers of freedom who may look a little different than you or I or eat different things. Liberals say there is nothing wrong with North Korea (it is a paradise) and for that reason they should return, and some conservatives say "not in my backyard!" and for that reason they should return.
At any rate, if they return, a painful death by KPA bayonet in front of other concentration camp residents awaits each and every one of them.
Like the Cubans, Vietnamese and Sudanese Christians, anyone who escapes the hell of North Korea deserves whatever help we can get them. It's not like we're talking hundreds of thousands of people (even if we were, I'd still be in favor of taking them in); this is a thin stream of folks who have risked everything to taste some type of freedom. Hell, if it had been up to me, I would have given everyone in Hong Kong American citizenship. There are worse things for this country to get than 7 million super-hard working people with a love of capitalism, a hatred of taxes and a great cuisine.
The way you hear some conservatives talk, you'd think they would have wanted to send anyone who jumped over the Berlin wall back to their communist overlords.
Because in that case, they would have been white (i.e., just like us 'Merikuns).
By Martin Nesirky
SEOUL (Reuters) - Top U.S. arms negotiator John Bolton described North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday as a tyrannical dictator who lived like royalty while jailing thousands and keeping many hungry in a "hellish nightmare."
In a tough speech guaranteed to provoke a blistering North Korean response, the undersecretary of state also said Kim was mistaken if he thought threats to proliferate nuclear weapons would weaken international resolve to halt his atomic ambitions.
His comments come at a delicate time. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), whom Bolton advises on arms control, told Reuters in Washington on Wednesday there was a "distinct possibility" of talks this year.
Japan's Kyodo news agency said the United States, China and North Korea (news - web sites) were discussing possible three-way talks in early September. Bolton declined comment on this at a news conference. But he said earlier the ball was in North Korea's court to respond to a U.S. proposal on the format of talks.
There was an initial, inconclusive round of three-way talks in Beijing in April at which the North told the United States it had nuclear weapons and was seeking to make more.
"The days of (North Korean) blackmail are over," Bolton said in a speech. "Kim Jong-il is dead wrong to think that developing nuclear weapons will improve his security."
Bolton, widely seen as a hawk on North Korea, painted a stark picture of life for North Koreans with Kim at the helm.
"LIVES LIKE ROYALTY"
He mentioned Kim's name some 40 times, and described him as one of the world's "tyrannical rogue state leaders" who needed to introduce sweeping reforms or face economic ruin.
"While he lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty, scrounging the ground for food," he told the East Asia Institute.
"For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare."
North Korea is edging toward nuclear talks but has recently repeated its demand Washington drop its "hostile policy."
Bolton was asked what effect his speech might have on North Korea's decision on whether to restart nuclear talks.
He replied: "It is important to tell the truth and I think that being able to state clearly the concerns we have about the regime in North Korea is important internationally in explaining why we are concerned both about its own support for terrorism and its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction."
Bolton, who flies next to Tokyo, said the United States and its allies were trying to persuade North Korea to start multilateral talks on its atomic plans.
North Korea wants direct talks with Washington, a line Bolton called a "one-note piano concerto." He said it would be highly irresponsible for Washington to hold one-to-one talks.
He said other tracks should be pursued too, including the U.N. Security Council taking "appropriate and timely action."
"Unfortunately, the Council is not playing the part it should," he said. "To date, virtually nothing has happened."
Bolton, who visited China before Seoul, said 11 countries in the "Proliferation Security Initiative" would continue efforts to try to thwart illicit exports.
"Kim Jong-il would be wise to consider diversifying his export base to something besides weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," Bolton said.
A U.S. combat team equipped with state-of-the-art fighting vehicles arrived in South Korea (news - web sites) on Thursday for training. The North's KCNA news agency said it was "a scout party to ignite another war of aggression."
Why, considering the flood of illegals pouring presently into our country, do you insist that NKoreans are our particular responsibility?
You're in Japan, or so your name indicates--one of the most insular and ungenerous of refugee hosts. Yet you take this opportunity to castigate Americans who are groaning under a destabilizing tide of immigrants already.
Talk to your bosses! Why criticize the US!
Oh, and while you are at it, can you specify just who my 'bosses' (sic) are, as I'm not quite sure myself? :-)
Because for a lot of these NK refugees, South Korea isn't necesarily safe- the NK government has occasionally taken to assasinating people in the ROK that they find annoying.
Plus, like the situation in Vietnam that led to hundreds of thousands of refugees, NK is a problem that the great powers (including the US) are responsible for causing.
It is not our business to support their continuing in racism and neglect their responsibilities.
The South Koreans are so obsessed with blood relations that childless couples won't adopt. The orphanages overflow. The RACIST US (listening from your exotic sandbox, AminT?) adopted these children by the hundreds, but SKorea got embarrassed and shut off the flow. Under the "Sunshine Policy" refugee NKoreans are treated furtively and shabbily. Shouldn't SKorea CHANGE this behavior? S Korea provided only the most tepid of support during the initital Iraq conflict--despite owning a huge military. We do for them, but they don't ever do for us. They need us, we could do without them.
The Japanese made 15,000 (wow, 15,000!) new "immigrant" citizens this year. Almost all of these were from families living in Japan for *generations*--that's how welcoming the Japanese are to the stranger. Why shouldn't they modify this behavior? Why is it our job to take up the slack?
Want to become Japanese, marry a Japanese bride, be welcomed into a Japanese family? Rotsa Ruck, gaijin.
LMAO, How do you know that I am not an American of Japanese descent, fully accepted in both societies? How do you know I am not African American? How do you not know I am White, and fully accepted due to cultural and linguistic fluency, efforts that gained respect and furthered the acceptance? How do you know I am even in Japan? How do you know anything? Be that as it may, I am constantly appreciative of the fact that moronic opinions such as your are and will remain in the extreme minority.
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