Comments on: Well, that would improve the gulag scenery

By: hardyandtiny

hardyandtiny — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:30:25 +0000

who killed kenzi snider?

By: sanshinseon

sanshinseon — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 04:56:01 +0000

No, he’s not, as of 13:50 on Sunday… the “Meet Our People” has only Koreans. “B. Carr” is still noted at the bottom of every page as web-designer is all.

ANYway, contrition for their doubt and silence over NK human rights probably will come from those few leftists with genuine conscience and personal integrity, just as it did in the USA in the 80s & 90s… But ‘most everyone will just “move on”… Same with right-wingers and their favorite dictatorships.

By: Sperwer

Sperwer — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 10:19:32 +0000

Brendon:

You’re still listed in the who we are section.

By: snow

snow — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 08:07:39 +0000

“I do not trust NK defectors.”

I think this is basically what commie apologist Noam Chomsky said about reports from defectors who had escaped from Cambodia about the nastiness of the Kmer Rouge. Eventually, it will come out that the Norks really were extremely nasty, and what will the left say? Not a thing, of course, no apologies will ever be forthcoming.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 03:41:43 +0000

That was me who wasted no time. I did all the internet stuff myself.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 02:45:37 +0000

. . . A woman I used to work with is a ??rogressive??who has been to N.K. and told another co-worker that the defectors were ??aking up??their stories to make N.K. look bad!

That is sad. These kind of “progressives” are a drag on society and are poor citizens. People have died just so they could be so ignorant and enjoy what they have now.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 02:42:55 +0000

Brendon, I see they’ve wasted no time in removing you from the corporate website, but did they pepper you with birdshot?

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:05:29 +0000

At a certain, desperate point, it’s every man for himself. Usually that’s after one has exhausted himself trying to get the other person to make the necessary change and being met with refusal at every point (”Escape with me to the South!” “No, the Leader will work everything out.”).

I’ve made the same change myself recently. Having failed to persuade my law firm away from its self-destructive course, I’ve bolted, even though I am positive such a move will prompt tragedy for the people left behind. But just because they’re too scared or stupid to save themselves doesn’t mean I have to go down with them. I’m sure that’s the North Korean defectors’ thought process, except with much graver stakes.

By: kushibo

kushibo — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 22:52:05 +0000

I do not trust NK defectors. While I do not fault them for wanting to leave, there?? something really screwed up about an individual who would do that knowing very well what would happen to their relatives and associates back home.

While it’s probably true that gaining favor with their new benefactors may give them an incentive to embellish, it is possible to gain a clear picture by corroborating the accounts of unconnected defectors/refugees. This is apparently the story of just one defector, but as the Marmot said, the usual caveats apply.

I think it’s helpful to think of them as, well, prison snitches.

Rather than accepting most everything that is said (”Why would they lie?”) or dismissing most everything (”They’re just trying to get back at the North!”), the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. If it were up to me, I would put stock in most of what they say, but try to verify everything before acting on it, if possible.

By: slim

slim — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 18:49:24 +0000

Refugees I was in contact with in NE China mostly had already lost most family members to starvation or prison camps or starvation in prison camps. Others managed to get a toehold in China and then get remaining family members out. I think defector is an outdated Cold War term, when these people are political/economic refugees.