Desperate measures

Phillippe Pons
Guardian Weekly

Four North Koreans - a couple in their 60s and their two adult sons - spent four days in an open boat powered by a tiny engine better suited to fishing on a river than crossing the Sea of Japan. They sailed more than 800km, guided by a compass. They were determined to escape the Democratic People's Republic of Korea because, as they explained to the police, "You cannot live there, with no money and no work." Among the provisions found on board was a little bottle, apparently containing poison to be taken if they were captured.

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A Japanese fishing boat spotted them at dawn on June 2 near Fukaura (in Aomori prefecture, the northernmost on the main island). They are not the first Korean boat people to arrive in Japan. In 1987 a fishing boat with 11 people on board drifted as far as Fukui prefecture, much further south.

The Tokyo authorities, who are sending the family straight to South Korea, in accordance with their wishes, are afraid that their long, dangerous journey may encourage others to do the same. In the early 2000s, when North Korean refugees were forcing their way into foreign consulates in China, several charities suggested encouraging prospective migrants to follow the example set by the Vietnamese boat people after the fall of Saigon. The question now is whether the new arrivals are an isolated case or the start of a trend.

Their ordeal reflects the harsh conditions in North Korea. They were not forced to flee by police repression but by acute shortages. They say they are from Chongjin, a large port and industrial centre in the northeast, close to the border with China and Russia. The situation there does not appear any worse than in other towns in North Korea, with shortages of energy and other essential resources. Life - or at least what a foreign visitor may see of it - carries on as best it can, a slow, silent slog glimpsed in the crowds trailing down endless avenues or waiting for the shaky trolleybuses. Chongjin even has some benefits by being close to the border. Most people just get by.

This family's decision to attempt the sea passage suggests that the traditional route taken by refugees, via China, is increasingly difficult. For years the large Korean community on the Chinese side of the border and international humanitarian organisations made life easier for asylum seekers. But tighter border controls by Chinese police and forced repatriation of intruders may be dissuading them.

Most of the Koreans entering China illegally across the Tumen river, which forms the border between the two countries, are temporary migrants who want to earn some money. Those planning to escape to South Korea are less common, faced with the prospect of a long, risky journey across China to reach Mongolia or southeast Asia. The "Vietnam route" was closed after some 400 refugees made a spectacular escape in 2004, much to the irritation of Pyongyang. In Thailand about 100 others are waiting to be sent to South Korea, where more than 10,000 of their compatriots have already settled, mainly in the past 10 years.

At the end of the 1990s, at the worst of the famine, there were an estimated 300,000 illegal North Korean migrants in China. Their number has dropped to between 30,000 and 50,000. But their predicament is alarming, as a report published by the International Crisis Group in October underlines. Peter Beck, the head of the group in Asia, says the refugees are living under appalling conditions and urgently need legal protection. They are easy prey for people-trafficking networks, and many of the women are raped and forced into prostitution. Beijing considers them simply illegal immigrants and pays no attention to calls by NGOs to grant at least some of them refugee status.

"Shortages rather than repression are the main reason for them crossing into China," says Beck. "Some migrants with sufficient funds can buy a risky passage to South Korea. The others have to put up with violence and exploitation for years. They are afraid of returning - and of staying." Le Monde

Desperate measures | Guardian Weekly | Guardian Unlimited

「北朝鮮非核化の基礎できた」ヒル米次官補が帰国の途に

　６か国協議の米首席代表、クリストファー・ヒル国務次官補は２３日午後、成田空港から帰国の途に就いた。
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　次官補は出発を前に記者団に、自身の訪朝について、「北朝鮮の非核化プロセスの基礎ができたこと」が最大の成果だと強調した。
（2007年6月23日20時32分 読売新聞）

「北朝鮮非核化の基礎できた」ヒル米次官補が帰国の途に : 国際 : YOMIURI ONLINE（読売新聞）

北の濃縮機器買い取りも＝旧ソ連の核解体支援に「前例」－米

【ワシントン２２日時事】マコーマック米国務省報道官は２２日の記者会見で、米政府がウラン濃縮関連機器を北朝鮮から買い取る案を検討しているとの報道について、「正式な提案ではない」としながらも、北朝鮮の高濃縮ウラン（ＨＥＵ）による核開発を阻止するための１つの方策として政権内で検討されていることを示唆した。
　マコーマック報道官は旧ソ連の核兵器などの解体支援のため資金援助を行っている「ナン・ルーガー計画」に触れ、核関連機器の買い取りには「こうした前例がある」と語った。

時事ドットコム：北の濃縮機器買い取りも＝旧ソ連の核解体支援に「前例」－米