Yesterday, Joshua over at Korea Liberator reported about eight North Korean defectors and two South Korean missionaries who’d been arrested in Laos. Anyway, today, Yonhap ran a piece on it, and it quoted a South Korean government official who said Seoul has asked the Laotian authorities for confirmation, and should the arrests be confirmed, the government would take “the necessary measures.” He said the government planned to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Laotians to free the missionaries and deal with the defectors, something that usually means allowing them to come to South Korea. So maybe that’s good news.
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Robert. Off topic but did you get the e-mail I sent earlier this week? It may have been to an old address or caught in a spam filter. Contact me via e-mail if you haven’t.
Just sent you a reply.
Send them to America, we’ll happily accept them. We need more Korean restaurants here!
–Remort
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[...] [Update 7 Jun 06: A hopeful sign? Personally, I think we need to keep the pressure on. My heartfelt thanks to those of you — and I’m hearing from a number of you — who have sent letters, and to the journalists who have shown interest in the story.] [...]
[...] This reveals that even China’s bordering nations are not safe havens for North Korea refugees. Laos, like China, is also a communist regime that is vulnerable to corruption, as were the case of the Laotian arresting officers. Worse, Laos has a trafficking problem probably bigger than China’s. According to Joshua’s post, the biggest problem is that the South Korean embassy has so far failed to intervene. This is where you come in. There are two ways to help. One, is to help Rev. Peters pay off the captors (again) here. Another way, suggested by Joshua, is to write to the Laotian embassy. You could, but I rather let my feelings known to the State Dep. instead. If the liberation of North Korean refugees have to be done without South Korea’s help, well, to hell with them. If they succeed, you may get meet the refugees in Los Angeles in a month’s time. Update: (Via. The Marmot’s Hole) The story is now on Yonhap. I’ll be waiting for the english version. Filed under: North Korea @ 2:38 am [...]