North Korean Exodus

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 30, 2004 | Editorial

[OESY]

More than 200 North Koreans arrived in Seoul on Tuesday, part of the Hermit Kingdom's biggest mass defection to date. A day later, a South Korean news agency reported the arrival of 227 more. Let's hope this exodus signals cracks in Kim Jong Il's regime that will lead to its eventual demise.

The defections coincide with fresh tales of the Kim regime's depredations against its own people. A North Korean scientist known only as "Dr. Kim" told the BBC that he used experimental chemical weapons on political prisoners, taking notes as they died in agony. Such experiments were apparently used to determine how much gas would be necessary to annihilate the city of Seoul.

...

The fact that these defectors were able to slip through had more to do with China's porous borders and enormous size, he says. The airlifts involved an accumulation of people who have been trickling out of North Korea over an extended period of time. No one knows how many refugees are hiding in China, but estimates range as high as 300,000.

Perhaps most encouraging about this recent exodus is that it shows that Pyongyang's propaganda has failed to brainwash the people. While some of the latest defectors were probably fleeing from food shortages -- at least a million North Koreans are said to have died of starvation -- others were likely aware of North Korea's deranged political reality. "I left because there was no food, but also because I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to live how I wanted to live," one North Korean told the BBC last month.

In the best-case scenario, a mass exodus of discontented North Koreans would eventually lead to the peaceful implosion of Kim's regime. These hopes may seem far off, but it's worth bearing in mind that neighboring countries played a pivotal role when the fall of East Germany was precipitated by a massive influx of East Germans into West Germany in 1989. Most notable was Hungary's refusal to turn away East German and Romanian refugees en route to the West.

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[Straight Vermonter]

This is EXACTLY what happened in the months before the Berlin Wall came down.

[Mamzelle]

Wonder how long it'll take for the SKs to start insisting that we take these refugees off their hands.

[Former Proud Canadian]

My thoughts exactly.

[AppyPappy]

Doubt it. Koreans generally are itching to get home when they come here.

[Tacis]

Just as you can be sure that almost any Reuters reporter is a Mossad agent, you can be sure that almost every North Korean "defector" is reporting back to North Korea and may also have a specific mission to be executed.

[SunkenCiv]

The defections coincide with fresh tales of the Kim regime's depredations against its own people. A North Korean scientist known only as "Dr. Kim" told the BBC that he used experimental chemical weapons on political prisoners, taking notes as they died in agony. Such experiments were apparently used to determine how much gas would be necessary to annihilate the city of Seoul... In the best-case scenario, a mass exodus of discontented North Koreans would eventually lead to the peaceful implosion of Kim's regime. These hopes may seem far off, but it's worth bearing in mind that neighboring countries played a pivotal role when the fall of East Germany was precipitated by a massive influx of East Germans into West Germany in 1989. Most notable was Hungary's refusal to turn away East German and Romanian refugees en route to the West.

Not so fast. If Kim's regime falls, there will be one less foreign leader who wants Kerry to defeat Bush.

George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent