Four North Korean refugees who were being held in the South Korean consulate in Shenyang, China, have climbed the wall at the U.S. consulate there and asked for asylum. Reportedly, the defectors acted violently toward a Korean consular official on their way out. This is the first time North Koreans have entered an American diplomatic mission in China, and it is a new development to have them go to such means to enter an American consulate after having been in a South Korean consulate, which guaranteed them passage to the South.
Being in an American mission in China does not guarantee them safe passage to the United States. Unless the Chinese authorities permit them to do so, they will not be able to board a plane for the U.S. Prior to that happening, they would have to be determined to be refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), confirm their free desire to go to the U.S., and then have their cases reviewed by American authorities. Their case differs from that of the six North Korean refugees who recently engaged in a "planned defection" to the U.S. while in a Southeast Asian nation. The fact they went to the American consulate despite those differences appears to be the result of encouragement by a group or groups supporting North Korean defectors. The defectors essentially chose their course of action despite the fact that it might make the situation harder for them to be able to leave China. It is a course of action that has a political effect.
The basis for the U.S. accepting North Korean defectors is the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, a law that can largely be characterized as being a political means to pressure the North Korean regime. The Bush Administration's refugee policy is clearly intended to use the weaknesses in the North's system to maintain a style of propaganda based on the premise that the U.S. equals good and North Korea equals bad. The same goes for many of the aid groups that help refugees with American money. Some among them occasionally express hatred for South Korea's policies on defectors and on North Korea. That being the case, activities done on behalf of defectors sometimes actually make things more difficult for them. Such was the case with the many organized defections we have seen in the past, and such is the case with this latest incident.
There are hundreds of thousands of North Koreans in China, and their plight can be resolved when the related countries have clear humanitarian principles. Clearly South Korea, which accepts defectors without condition, needs to be at the center of that. Hastily putting political motives first will not help the majority of refugees.
