(By guest blogger, Andy Jackson)
(UPDATE: As one would expect, this is getting more detailed coverage at the Korea Liberator.)
Two years after the North Korean Human Rights Act became law, the US has finally accepted its first North Korean refugee (Yonhap):
The Los Angeles Immigration Court has granted asylum to a North Korean defector after he awaited a decision in the U.S. for the past 20 months, his lawyer said Friday.
The final ruling came Thursday for the defector, Seo Jae-sok, a pseudonym, who entered the U.S. through the Mexican border in 2004, according to Miriam Kang of Human Rights Project, a California-based non-profit corporation. Seo is a former North Korean military officer who came to the U.S. with his wife and two children.
One aspect of the case may piss off Seoul as well as Pyongyang:
His case is unusual because he and his family had already settled in South Korea and obtained South Korean citizenship but decided to seek asylum in the U.S.
“He was considered as a North Korean national, not as a South Korean,” Kang said.
“The court concluded that he faces persecution in North Korea and granted him political asylum,” she said.
That was a nifty trick. The same trick might also save Seoul some face in the case of Ma Young-ae, a North Korean defector who is seeking refugee status because of reported repression in South Korea.
Frankly, I would much rather see the US getting North Korean refugees via, say, Mongolia or even Europe. North Koreans are legally citizens of the ROK and I would much rather see our asylum spots going to refugees on the run rather folks who want to upgrade countries.
Perhaps I am missing something, but I have not seen any evidence that ”progressives” (in or out of the ROK government) have done anything beyond bush-league harassment to silence defectors who want to put human rights on the front burner of inter-Korean relations. I certainly am not aware of anything that would warrant granting them political asylum.
NOTE: As always, if you are in Korea and want to help with North Korean refugees/human rights, join the Seoul Chapter of Liberty in North Korea.
7 Comments
Screwed up US immigration importing more welfare cases. These North Koreans don’t know anything about having to work for a living. What chances do they have in a capitalist society other then look for government hand outs?
Technically, these guys are not immigrants and would be expected to return to North Korea if the political situation changed. Of course the same thing could be said of the Nicaraguans and Salvadorans who came to the US in the 1980s and they are still with us.
In any case, with around 11,000,000 illegal alians in the US, I do not think a few hundred North Koreans will make much of an impact.
It would be interesting to know the position taken by State and INS during the hearing process. I assume that they supported the applicant’s petition - which would usggest that this was a very political act, aimed squarely at South Korea.
Maybe, these DPRK defectors only want to get as far away as they can from the Dear Leader… and there’re more job opportunities in the land of unlimited opportunities. Burge flipping at McDonald’s or some decent work for the US intelligence apparatus.
“I do not think a few hundred North Koreans will make much of an impact.”
Do you think it will stay a ‘few hundred’?
Seo is a liar. Seo received 130,000 US dollars worth of financial support from the government of south korea. Seo has cashed in all the South Korean tax payer’s money that received when he left for the US. Seo also claims that his child was a victim of discrimination and harassment from school. The child’s home teacher vehemently denies that she discriminated against the child, and that she feels sad that accusations against her is taken as truth and she feels victimized. She also pointed out there were four other defector students, and that she had paid particular attention to them because they were North Koreans.
If the US feels that taking in such phony refugees and immigrants is justified, then fine. But I think the US tax payers should know what the facts are first.
Unlike many defectors who struggle to adjust to life in the capitalist South, it seems that Seo learned quickly how to exploit the systems of both South Korea and the US.
2 Trackbacks
[...] In other words, nothing about this case suggests that “[t]he Secretary of State” actually “undert[ook] to facilitate the submission of applications . . . by citizens of North Korea seeking protection as refugees,” as Section 303 of the law says the Secretary “shall” do. Whatev. To put a finer point on it, I don’t give Lefkowitz, the State Department, or the Administration any credit here whatsoever. State was of no help to Mr. Seo on his way through the Iron Curtain or the Bamboo Curtain. The only government action that “facilitated” anything for Mr. Seo was the Border Patrol’s failure to catch him when he crossed the Tortilla Curtain. That’s hardly the way we want to accept refugees into this country. Barring evidence of that Seo was persecuted in South Korea, then, I echo this comment by Andy Jackson at the Marmot’s Hole: Frankly, I would much rather see the US getting North Korean refugees via, say, Mongolia or even Europe. North Koreans are legally citizens of the ROK and I would much rather see our asylum spots going to refugees on the run rather folks who want to upgrade countries. [...]
ringtone downloading…
ringtone downloading
ringtone downloading - ringtone downloading
You have literary talent that you should take pains to develop.
We were young and our happiness dazzled us with its strength. But there was
also a terrible betrayal that lay within me li…