Behind The Green Door Mpg

flee North Korea in barges

flee North Korea in barges
WORLDWIDE in barges
Article published in the 06/05/2007

At four, a couple of sixty year old son and their two-thirties, they sailed for four days from the coast of North Korea than the Japan aboard a wooden barges, no cab, driven by a small engine and more adapted to fishing in the river to the high seas Covering over 800 miles to the compass through the Sea of Japan, they fled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) because "we can not live there, without money and without work", they told police. On board, they prevailed, with supplies, a small bottle containing apparently he's poison in case they would be taken. They were spotted, at dawn Saturday, June 2, by Japanese fishermen whom they called "the road to Niigata, Sea port of Japan (East Sea to Koreans), further south. They were off the small port of Fukaura (Aomori northern department). Alerted, the marine police escorted them ashore.

This is not the first boat people arrived in North Korea in Japan in 1987, a fishing boat with 11 people on board including four children, had drifted to the coast of Fukui Prefecture (central Honshu). The refugees were subsequently sent to South Korea via Taiwan. This time, Tokyo announced they would be sent directly to South Korea as they wish.

Their long and perilous odyssey that Japanese authorities fear an influx of asylum seekers arriving by sea encourage North Koreans to follow the example of Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon was an idea launched in the early 2000 by organizations defending the refugees, some of which forced the doors of foreign delegations to China. Is this time an isolated case or a new "route" to escape it is being put in place?

The leak of this fishing family is indicative of the severity of living conditions in the DPRK. They were not forced to flee because of the repression. They fled the shortage. They come, they told, Chongjin, major port and industrial city in north-east of the DPRK, near the borders of China and Russia.

The situation in Chongjin, where we were a few months ago, does not seem worse than in other cities of the DPRK energy and private resources. Life - Where what is on view to visitors - it somehow continues, slowly, silently, to the rhythm of the crowds who walk along the long avenues and rickety trolleys. Chongjin has the advantage of being close to China and Russia which demonstrates the importance of trade consulates. Some benefit. Most survived.

The dangerous journey by sea of the four boat people could indicate that the traditional route taken by the refugees through China is becoming more difficult. Long, the presence of the Chinese side of the border, a strong Korean community and humanitarian organizations International had helped defectors. But now, lock the border by Chinese police and forced repatriations which it engages seem, to some extent, a deterrent.

The majority of North Koreans who are smuggled into China by crossing the Tumen River, which marks the border between the two countries and does in some places only ten meters wide, are temporary migrants. They just make a little money. Some rarer want to immigrate to South and they began a long and dangerous journey of thousands of miles across China to Mongolia or Southeast Asia. The "road "By Vietnam was closed following the spectacular arrival in 2004, 400 refugees, who had angered Pyongyang. In Thailand, hundreds of refugees waiting to be sent to the South where more than 10,000 have settled (mostly for ten years).

In the late 1990s - at the height of the famine in the DPRK - it was estimated up to 300,000 North Korean illegal immigrants in China. They are only 30 000 to 50 000 today. Their situation is no less "alarming," said Peter Beck, director for Asia of International Crisis Group, an NGO aimed at preventing conflicts, which investigated their fate in October 2006 ("Perilous Journeys: The Plight of North Koreans in China and beyond"). They live in "horrible conditions and they urgently need legal protection," says Beck.

Victims of smugglers linked to networks of trafficking in persons, "sold", "raped and forced into prostitution" in the case of women, migrants are terrified of the risk of being forcibly repatriated to the DPRK. Their number (150 to 200 a week in 2006) has nevertheless forced the North Korean authorities to reduce the penalties they incur. China considers them illegal immigrants and remains deaf to appeals from international organizations to grant certain refugee status.

"The shortage, more than repression, is the main reason for crossing into China," said Mr. Beck. "Some migrants who have money can buy a risky passage to South Korea, others will suffer for years, violence and exploitation. They are afraid to return as stay, "he says.

To avoid this fate, despite the proximity to the Chinese border, the four boat people Chongjin have preferred to face the sea

Philippe Pons

Behind The Green Door Mpg

flee North Korea in barges

flee North Korea in barges
WORLDWIDE in barges
Article published in the 06/05/2007

At four, a couple of sixty year old son and their two-thirties, they sailed for four days from the coast of North Korea than the Japan aboard a wooden barges, no cab, driven by a small engine and more adapted to fishing in the river to the high seas Covering over 800 miles to the compass through the Sea of Japan, they fled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) because "we can not live there, without money and without work", they told police. On board, they prevailed, with supplies, a small bottle containing apparently he's poison in case they would be taken. They were spotted, at dawn Saturday, June 2, by Japanese fishermen whom they called "the road to Niigata, Sea port of Japan (East Sea to Koreans), further south. They were off the small port of Fukaura (Aomori northern department). Alerted, the marine police escorted them ashore.

This is not the first boat people arrived in North Korea in Japan in 1987, a fishing boat with 11 people on board including four children, had drifted to the coast of Fukui Prefecture (central Honshu). The refugees were subsequently sent to South Korea via Taiwan. This time, Tokyo announced they would be sent directly to South Korea as they wish.

Their long and perilous odyssey that Japanese authorities fear an influx of asylum seekers arriving by sea encourage North Koreans to follow the example of Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon was an idea launched in the early 2000 by organizations defending the refugees, some of which forced the doors of foreign delegations to China. Is this time an isolated case or a new "route" to escape it is being put in place?

The leak of this fishing family is indicative of the severity of living conditions in the DPRK. They were not forced to flee because of the repression. They fled the shortage. They come, they told, Chongjin, major port and industrial city in north-east of the DPRK, near the borders of China and Russia.

The situation in Chongjin, where we were a few months ago, does not seem worse than in other cities of the DPRK energy and private resources. Life - Where what is on view to visitors - it somehow continues, slowly, silently, to the rhythm of the crowds who walk along the long avenues and rickety trolleys. Chongjin has the advantage of being close to China and Russia which demonstrates the importance of trade consulates. Some benefit. Most survived.

The dangerous journey by sea of the four boat people could indicate that the traditional route taken by the refugees through China is becoming more difficult. Long, the presence of the Chinese side of the border, a strong Korean community and humanitarian organizations International had helped defectors. But now, lock the border by Chinese police and forced repatriations which it engages seem, to some extent, a deterrent.

The majority of North Koreans who are smuggled into China by crossing the Tumen River, which marks the border between the two countries and does in some places only ten meters wide, are temporary migrants. They just make a little money. Some rarer want to immigrate to South and they began a long and dangerous journey of thousands of miles across China to Mongolia or Southeast Asia. The "road "By Vietnam was closed following the spectacular arrival in 2004, 400 refugees, who had angered Pyongyang. In Thailand, hundreds of refugees waiting to be sent to the South where more than 10,000 have settled (mostly for ten years).

In the late 1990s - at the height of the famine in the DPRK - it was estimated up to 300,000 North Korean illegal immigrants in China. They are only 30 000 to 50 000 today. Their situation is no less "alarming," said Peter Beck, director for Asia of International Crisis Group, an NGO aimed at preventing conflicts, which investigated their fate in October 2006 ("Perilous Journeys: The Plight of North Koreans in China and beyond"). They live in "horrible conditions and they urgently need legal protection," says Beck.

Victims of smugglers linked to networks of trafficking in persons, "sold", "raped and forced into prostitution" in the case of women, migrants are terrified of the risk of being forcibly repatriated to the DPRK. Their number (150 to 200 a week in 2006) has nevertheless forced the North Korean authorities to reduce the penalties they incur. China considers them illegal immigrants and remains deaf to appeals from international organizations to grant certain refugee status.

"The shortage, more than repression, is the main reason for crossing into China," said Mr. Beck. "Some migrants who have money can buy a risky passage to South Korea, others will suffer for years, violence and exploitation. They are afraid to return as stay, "he says.

To avoid this fate, despite the proximity to the Chinese border, the four boat people Chongjin have preferred to face the sea

Philippe Pons