Forbes writes on the plight of refugees trying to escape North Korea:
Without life preservers, and within range of the armed guards, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans over the last decade have braved this crossing [into China]. Some have died trying.
Others have made it into China only to fall foul of a state policy that refuses to recognize any of them as refugees. They are all deemed illegal immigrants, to be captured and sent back. On the far side of Tumen, surrounded by a high wall, stands a big white building with a faded red roof and round guard tower. Local residents say that this is the detention center where North Koreans, when they are caught in this area, are held before being sent back to North Korea. There, they can face retaliation as extreme as imprisonment in slave labor camps or, in some cases, public execution.
In many parts of the world, it would be normal near such a border to have a United Nations refugee camp ready to receive such escapees and at least provide haven until they could gain entry to a third country. In China, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, has a spacious office in Beijing. But in deference to the Chinese government’s wishes, the UNHCR does not operate near the border and provides no systematic help for North Koreans trying to flee via China.
One can’t be too surprised by anything that China does, but the UN at least pretends to be a humanitarian organization, so one might hope that the UN High Commission on Refugees would actually do something for refugees. But, given the UN’s record, I guess we can’t be too surprised there either.
(Via Instapundit.)
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