Around this time last summer, China was basking in the afterglow of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with many hoping that the overall experience would move the powerhouse nation to start doing something about its atrocious human rights record. But when it comes to the complicated flow of North Korean refugees over the border into the northeastern regions of the country, things have gotten worse.
First we learned that footage seized from @current cameraman Mitch Koss in March was used by Chinese authorities to close down secret orphanages, chase out terrified female sex workers and expel at least one prominent refugee activist back to Seoul. Now comes an even more horrible reminder of the dysfunctional Big Brother-little brother relationship enjoyed by China and North Korea – a frightening @Chosun_Ilbo article about worsening conditions at a North Korean detention facility in Chongori.
You know you’re in trouble when a defector says the notorious NK prison camp at Yodok is a piece of cake to survive compared to Chongori, but that’s just what someone shares in the piece. Remember, it was also @Chosun_Ilbo that worked undercover for ten months to produce an excellent documentary about the dangerous and circuitous route through China and beyond that escaping North Koreans must follow to get to South Korea.
If China didn’t allow North Korean spies to pose as fellow refugee prisoners in its detention facilities…; if China allowed international aid workers to tend to refugees along the border…; if China didn’t send back refugees to the Hermit Kingdon… it would be a different story. But for a whole bunch of reasons, China chooses to help Kim Jong-il maintain his reign of terror, and until that changes, the humanitarian crisis that goes along with it will be mired in many more tales of unspeakable horror.
Filed under: Human Rights
