German human rights activist Dr. Norbert Vollertsen is being expelled from South Korea, says NK Zone. Joshua has Dr. V’s full email message posted over at his blog.
Why do I have the feeling he’ll be back soon enough?
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24 Comments
Just to get legalistic, it appears that it’s not quite accurate to say he’s been expelled. Apparently, when he entered the country on his current tourist visa, he was asked/told to stop engaging in his activities. Since then, he’s been told that his tourist visa will not be renewed.
I think to be legalistic, he’s being expelled for overstaying his visa. Hearing it from his side, it sounds like he’s being persecuted, but I’ll politely reserve judgment on that matter.
Yes, let’s just say that he has the right intentions, but from what I’ve read on various blogs, he’s a bit of a media wh***.
This just pisses me off to no ends…
He has the Korean government in a pickle. If they send him out and then refuse to let him back in, they will be giving him great material to push his cause. He can turn the heat up on Seoul with it. But, if they let him back in, he has shown a knack for coming up with ways to effectively keep the group’s thoughts in the public eye.
If I were in the Korean government, and I wanted to keep the position it currently has been following in regards to North Korea and the anti-Pyongyang groups —-
I wouldn’t let him back in.
I’d risk the martyr effect and bank on his distance from Korea causing a loss of interest in his efforts in Korea.
I could be wrong, and it could backfire, and/or the Dr. could find effective ways to get back closer to Korea AND use the martyr effect well.
But, if I were on the Roh team, with what seems to be their priorities and goals, I’d think keeping him out was my best bet to minimize him and the groups that use him for support/promotion.
Personally, I hope he is successful whereever he goes in getting people to focus on the plight of the North Korean people….
To his credit, part of the attention he attracts is probably because he’s a foreigner. But outsiders raising sensitive issues in almost any country cause discomfort or outright embarrassment. And not being a Korean citizen, his status puts him at a disdavantage.
Exile seems to have a certain cachet for Koreans. Think of the Shanghai Provisional Government, Rhee Syngman, the Manchurian rebels, KIS and his Russian camp, Kim Dae-jung and his exile to the US in the 80s, or on the far left, Song Du-yul in Germany.
The problem for Dr. Vollertsen in this regard is that he’s not Korean, so I don’t know if he’ll garner the same sort of following.
I think Korea should treat him by the book and charge him with sedition for telling people to rush Cheong Wa Dae and contempt of the National Assembly for insulting it when he spoke to a committee there once. Don’t know why he gets a special exception and just can’t get his visassss renewed.
Oranckay, Your suggestion of sedition charges seems rather ill-timed, given your apologia for the kidnapping of that soldier. If the cops had thought Norbert advocated violence, they should have charged him–along with the numerous left-wing thugs who were actually throwing firebombs and stabbing people. Obviously the authorities didn’t think they had a clear case, because they passed up the opportunity to expel or prosecute him then. As I recall the statement, it was open to various interpretations. I agree that a civil society can’t tolerate violence, but the rule of law applied inconsistently is little more than state-managed thuggery.
If your complaint is that as a foreigner Norbert shouldn’t engage in politics, leave aside the question of whether keeping an opinionated blog is engaging in politics and try to explain explain this atrocity for me. Provided the man doesn’t advocate violence, he should be free to speak.
Norbert should have renewed his visa, but what he’s asserting is that the authorities said that he wasn’t getting one anyway because of his political activities. All I have there is Norbert’s word to go on. If he’s wrong, I’m sure someone in the ROK government say so.
Media whore? Well, “whoring,” as I understand it, is the exchange of something yucky and sticky for sex. Try to keep in mind just what part of that transaction makes this a term of derision. Norbert hasn’t profited personally from his activities; in fact, he’s had to live to life of a vagabond because of threats from student thugs. Someone commented on my blog that his book still hasn’t been released. I doubt it will make him as much money as he’d have earned practicing medicine. In fact, I don’t think he earned anything on all those Indonesian patients he helped after the tsunami, either.
The serious criticism of Norbert is the one that holds that his embassy-rushings in Beijing cost lives. It’s a question that haunts him and gives me plenty of pause. That, of course, is the last thing on the little minds in the Blue House. The broader truth is that Norbert was the one who brought this issue before the public eye, where it belongs. Had South Koreans shown as much compassion about the North Korean people as people in other countries have, they would have taken up the cause and mainstreamed it, and Norbert would have gone elsewhere. South Korea being what it is today, that didn’t happen. I hope it will now. Meanwhile, the tall blond wacky guy did a good job of attracting media attention and exposing the hypocrisy of the South Korean government, and he takes a beating pretty well (by my count, he’s been tackled by the South Korean cops, North Korean “reporters,” and the U.S. Secret Service). This, of course, embarrassed the people who are promoting Roh’s five-year plan to achieve unification through cell phone commercials (which is ironic, given that possession of a cell phone in North Korea can land you in a labor camp, or worse).
Again, I’m not defending all of Norbert’s words or actions, and he needs to get a visa like everyone else. The issue is why the government expelled him. If it’s because he participated in political activities, then it’s both arbitrary and shamelessly hypocritical–in other words, just another day in the Blue House.
Frankly, I’m hoping the South Koreans deport him. If the South Koreans don’t take up this cause now and put a Korean face on it, they never will. I’d also like to see this become an issue when Roh comes to the White House. A worsening of US-ROK relations is probably a good thing in the short term if it gets our troops out of Korea, further distances U.S. diplomacy from South Korea’s, and causes the South Korean people to second-guess the competence (such as it is) of Roh’s leadership.
I think Budaechigae
. . . has discovered some more “sedition.”
Joshua, you are correct that he isn’t doing this out of any self-interest, as far as I can tell. Maybe that was a poor choice of words on my part. And I understand that the media stunts he pulls are a deliberate calculation on his part to bring attention to issues that really do need a sound airing in the South.
I suspect a lot of South Koreans are just so jaded from the state Anticommunism of the late 40s through the early 90s, that many in the political centre are either simply tired of talking about the North, while some of those on the left instictively question much of what is said (or not said) about the North.
So now the challenge is to convince people that much of what was said about the North under past administrations is in fact (a) true and (b) merits discussion.
stabbing peoplein 2002, I thought only one person was stabbed. I only remember the one incident, in Haebangchon. Was there another?Had South Koreans shown as much compassion about the North Korean people as people in other countries have, they would have taken up the cause and mainstreamed it, and Norbert would have gone elsewhere.What compassion is this? Japan and the US send money, but so does South Korea.
Does the US take in North Korean refugees? Only those that end up on their soil. And in the meantime US companies keep signing contract after contract with companies in China, whose government actively searches out North Korean refugees and sends them back to North Korea where they will be tortured and possibly killed.
Hey, I’m all for bashing Roh’s reversal of longstanding policy of accepting any NK refugee anywhere with open arms, but let’s not kid ourselves that other places are more compassionate.
Working out a deal with China so that the 300,000 NK refugees could be relocated to nice new homes in Minnesota, California, and Wisconsin, that would be compassionate.
Kushibo,
Stabbings? courtesy of those fine patriots at Portland Indymedia, plus much more here.
I’m not going to knock myself out proving that the U.S. government’s reaction on the whole has been that compassionate when thus, far, it’s an unfulfilled promise. I refer, of course, to the North Korean Human Rights Act, the hundreds of people (just the ones I know) who supported it, and a substantial number of Japanese activists I’ve also met. The implementation record of the NKHRA thus far is nothing to boast about yet, but an unfulfilled promise is a great deal better than financial support for the regime, especially if someone gets around to fulfilling it. Congress recently got sufficiently concerned that it held hearings, with the State Department being on the receiving end of some strong hints and tough questions. Whether this is sincere or for public consumption remains to be seen, but Reps. Leach, Lantos, and Hyde are sincere.
The good news–and I hope it ultimately proves me wrong–is that I see initial signs of a South Korean “New Right” finding its voice. I hope to publish more on that in the near future. Some of its leaders are disillusioned former leftist radicals; at least one of them was a political prisoner in the 1980s.
OK, I’m html challenged today.
Here and here. Get a load of the comments on Indymedia.
Joshua, I’d be intrigued in learning more about this “New Right.” Can you provide some names of its leading lights?
I’m guessing it would be somewhat analogous to the early neoconservative movement in the States, some of whose members were at one time “fellow travellers” (i.e., ardent leftiesshock! horror!). (The prime example of this is the journal Commentary, which as far as I know started back in the 50s or so as a left-wing publication, and gradually drifted increasingly to the right as the years went by.)
I edited what I consider to be a very insightful piece today for one of its leading lights. I begged the man to let me publish it, but he’s going to give the Washington Post a whack first. And yes, I think your neocon analogy holds some water, up to a point. He even claims that some DLP members are increasingly critical of North Korea’s human rights record.
Rather than giving you names, I’ll refer you to their version of Commentary–DailyNK–which is supposed to start publishing my stuff in the near future. Their readership is apparently quite high these days (at least that’s what they tell me). You may recall DailyNK posted the video of the North Korean dissenters.
None of this is to suggest that I agree with all of their views. For one thing, I’m not sure the closeness of their association with Hwang Jang Yop is doing them much good. On the other hand, they seem to have a healthy respect for debate, and they do have some actual North Koreans in their organization besides Hwang.
Slight correction: Commentary started up in 1945. And its editorial positions really are pretty far to the right. See here more on the magazine.
Thanksmissed your reply while writing my own. I’ve checked out that site once or twice before but haven’t really explored it yet.
That’s curious: the DailyNK is being hosted at the Chosun Ilbo’s Website (chosun.com). I don’t recall that it used to be that way….
Ah, problem solved:
The DailyNK is at dailynk.com.
The creative folks at Chosun have evidently registered dailynk.co.kr as an address for their own site on the North, nk.chosun.com.
all of this is just silly. why can’t the guy, like every other foreigner who stays here long term, identify just one of the plethora of ways to get a visa and solve his problem that way. it’s ridiculous to go in and out, in and out by tourist visa. my recommendation: find a nice korean girl and get married. a good ol’ f2-1 will take care of everything. doesn’t even need to work. he could just continue to gadfly.
Visas are easy to get but highly restrictive, and so many of his activist activities would not be allowed under most (perhaps all) visas available to him.
Is it not dee chance fa Norbert to have his veena vashed in Patong? Come on baby she sports dee mustache you looooove!
Joshua wrote:Stabbings? courtesy of those fine patriots at Portland Indymedia, plus much more here.In 2002, it was stabbing (singular). (I happened to be in a forum with the PAO who got stabbed and I was quite amazed at how magnanimous he was about it).
The doctor who was stabbed in 2000 was killed by a severely mentally ill homeless man. Though extremely tragic, it was not part of the anti-American orgy in 2002.
My point is that we should focus on what has really happened, not exaggerate it or misreport it.I?€™m not going to knock myself out proving that the U.S. government?€™s reaction on the whole has been that compassionate when thus, far, it?€™s an unfulfilled promise.It’s an empty promise. Few if any North Koreans can make it to US soil or diplomatic missions, so it’s an empty promise. The US is not in the situation that South Korea is facing, where tens or hundreds of thousands of people may have to be absorbed. Hence, being economic buddies with the North Koreans’ second-worst tormentors, while at the same time criticizing South Korea’s resolve in taking in a flood of people, is specious.I refer, of course, to the North Korean Human Rights Act, the hundreds of people (just the ones I know) who supported it, and a substantial number of Japanese activists I?€™ve also met. The implementation record of the NKHRA thus far is nothing to boast about yet, but an unfulfilled promise is a great deal better than financial support for the regime, especially if someone gets around to fulfilling it. Congress recently got sufficiently concerned that it held hearings, with the State Department being on the receiving end of some strong hints and tough questions. Whether this is sincere or for public consumption remains to be seen, but Reps. Leach, Lantos, and Hyde are sincere.I agree that Leach, Lantos, and Hyde are probably very sincere, but (especially in Hyde’s case) it does not give the right justification to bash South Korea’s government for its serious apprehension about the repercussions of taking in a flood refugees.
If the US is serious, then it would be working out a deal with China to STOP RETURNING REFUGEES and to TAKE IN AT LEAST AS MANY NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES AS SOUTH KOREA DOES. If it fails to do this, then those words are merely words. The good news?€“and I hope it ultimately proves me wrong?€“is that I see initial signs of a South Korean ?€œNew Right?€? finding its voice. I hope to publish more on that in the near future. Some of its leaders are disillusioned former leftist radicals; at least one of them was a political prisoner in the 1980s. I hope you’re right. I support some aspects of the Sunshine Policy but I think that Roh is a clueless goofball who shoots off his mouth and doesn’t have a coherent strategy, thus he’s kowtowing to China and to the North and he’s putting his fears ahead of the interests of the North Koreans suffering in China, our wonderful economic partner.