4 North Korean Women Surrender To Police In Chiang Rai

[rodcourt49]

They should not be sent back there. That would likely mean death. What is Thailand's policy dealing with North Korean refugees? Are they sending any back?

Hopefully they won't ask them to swim back.

If I remember, there have been some stories of them getting refugee status and South Korea takes them.

..there was a documentary only a few months ago about a similar group of 5 women that did just the same thing..got out of NK via neighbouring countries and crossed in about same area. They had a Thai guide who was a member of an International Missionary group who brought them most of the way through jungles and mountainous areas. Near Chang Saen thay could see the lights of Thailand from Laos and made the night crossing then were taken by mini van to Bangkok where they united with another family member. The finally made it bck to SK. What an ordeal. A great story.

[LJW]

They should not be sent back there. That would likely mean death. What is Thailand's policy dealing with North Korean refugees? Are they sending any back?

Normally, the South Korean Embassy wil take them from the police, then they send them to South Korea to be resettled.

[chaoyang]

Quite a story. They would almost certainly have crossed the border into Jilin Province of China -- known in the West as Manchuria -- then have to be driven all the way to Yunnan Province. Air and train travel would be almost certainly out because the only ID they would likely have is some sort of card issued in North Korea and you need ID to board a plane or buy a train ticket. Unless they were able to use buses the whole way -- and it is a very long way. They might speak Chinese well enough to get around.

Of course the trip through mountainous Laos would also be tough.

Epic story.

[thunder30101]

There is no agreement (wishful thinking) if they are caught they are turned over to nk officials, why do you think they are hiding out trying to get to the sk embassy ? It is a diplomatic mess for thailand when they are caught. Yes they come all the way thru china, lao then thailand to hopefully freedom paying bribes, selliing themselves or whatever to get here and yes there are people along the way that help them at great personal danger to themselves if they are caught. Id say some low level official who busted them is in for some trouble over this.

[brahmburgers]

Must have been an arduous journey - particularly if they went through China - as they most certainly would have. And most likely Laos. Not Burma, even tho that's a more direct route than Laos, but it's an even more ironclad dictatorship than China or Laos. Good question earlier about 'why didn't they go in to China and then curve around to enter S.Korea?' I don't know either, except it must be forbidably difficult to do that route, if they instead opt to go so far south to Thailand.

I wouldn't be surprised if N.Korea is angry with, and puts repercussions on Thailand for being decent about this sort of thing. I reside in C.Rai, and would do all I could to assist them getting to a safe haven, if there was something I could do (found them ambling and frightened along a road, .....or?).

slightly off topic, but: I'm friends with a small family from Chin State Burma. Chin hail from the mountains bordering India, and are treated like 2nd hand crap in Burma. Very sweet folks: a mama, baby boy, young girl, two women and a boyfriend. They were holed up, illegally, near me in the outskirts of Chiang Rai. Things became unbearable, so they moved on, I don't know where. Last I heard, the women were running down to Malaysia clandestinely to make money to send back, but the trip and the gig there were horrible. It can be grievously tough for illegals here in Asia. There is no end to the # people who will gladly take full advantage of others and have no worries about causing misery in the process.

[chantorn]

Why can't North Korean just stay at home, instead of roaming the world causing trouble to innocent counties like Thailand. The world should have laws and punishment against economic migrant

Just because you do not like your country leader does not give you the right to move to another country. Else millions of Red-shirts might want to migrate too.

Edited October 19, 2010 by chantorn

[Guest]

I wouldn't be surprised if N.Korea is angry with, and puts repercussions on Thailand for being decent about this sort of thing. I reside in C.Rai, and would do all I could to assist them getting to a safe haven, if there was something I could do (found them ambling and frightened along a road, .....or?).

there are many more defectors caught on a regular basis, they just don't get reported. so that won't happen. the dprk should be very happy with any business it gets these days, and thailand remains its third or fourth most important trading partner worldwide.

[lonewolf99]

"" The escape route has been well known for many years. Usually in the past, though, I gather the North Koreans also tried their best not to get caught by Thai police. They usually headed straight to BKK and got on a plane to South Korea with false documents.

The Laos leg of their journey involves trudging through jungle for a number of days - for which most of them are ill prepared - so maybe this particular group just had a tougher time of it and just gave themselves up out of exhaustion, unless this new 'agreement' thing is true. ""

My favourite subject at school was Geography......so without giving the game away ....How do refugees completely circumvent China in the North by several hundreds of miles. Go trudging through jungles in Laos/Cambodia avoid stepping on US ordanance and blowing their legs off and end up in North Thailand with enough money to get to BKK. Then get on a plane with "false documents" and fly to South Korea.....!!!???

If there is an "agreement" between the governments to re-patriate. Why would they need false documents?

I read the details on the link and other articles before, these people are "dirt poor" so getting enough money together to bribe, feed and travel around must be nigh on impossible.

All very sad.

I really feel for these poor people. George Bush and Tony Blair went marching off round the globe to rid us of the worlds evil dictators...but only in mineral rich countries overflowing in oil reserves strangley enough.....so they avoided North Korea, Mr Mugabe and Thailands sister dictatorship on the Western border..........

You show very little knowledge of geography and world politics when you consider that the main reason NOT to invade N. Korea is their lack of resources. You may also consider that they have the backing of China, have quite a large military coupled with a persecution complex, may well possess nuclear weapons, and that the border is in artillery and rocket (and also missile) range of Seoul. And you think Bush is an idiot!

My sincere apologies...but I was being IRONIC about my statement at the bottom about BUSH and BLAIR...........................Bush would have been a bigger IDIOT (your word not mine) if he invaded a small S.E. Asian country bristling with nuclear Armamants backed up by a giant communist regime....Did the Americans not try that before and failed miserably and left a legacy of damage that will never go away in S.E. Asia...???

http://www.khmercity.net/forum/topics/map-of-us-bombed-cambodia?commentId=1757607%3AComment%3A509570

Ooooooops there I go again being IRONIC.....But since I have little knowledge of Geography ( Phd ) after visiting and working on every continent on the planet and 35 different countries before settling in LOS what the hel_l would I know ??????? all I was asking is the obvious as are others on this post - why do the N.Koreans go through such a long route march to get to next door....

[dominique355]

Why can't North Korean just stay at home, instead of roaming the world causing trouble to innocent counties like Thailand. The world should have laws and punishment against economic migrant

Just because you do not like your country leader does not give you the right to move to another country. Else millions of Red-shirts might want to migrate too.

Wow, here we have true Buddhist compassion!

Obviously you have no clue about what is going on in North Korea. These poor people fight for survival, and if they get sent back to North Korea, they and their families will be executed.

These North Koreans are refugees in the true meaning of the term, and a little "nam chai", human compassion from Thai people and government would certainly be highly appreciated.

But then again, I don't have much hope. Remember the Rohinyas, the Hmong etc? All sent back to certain death by the Thais.

[geriatrickid]

I wouldn't be surprised if there is more to the story than this. People just can't transit through China. The border is sealed since the Chinesey are terrified of an influx of North Korean refugees. Are they Korean spies? Defectors of suitable rank? China just doesn't do things out of the goodness of its despotic heart. For China to be complicit in this, there's an ulterior reason.

[Guest]

ohh man, this forum is full of morons and trolls

[Buchholz]

There is no agreement (wishful thinking) if they are caught they are turned over to nk officials

No, they aren't.

As a rule, almost all North Koreans give themselves up to the Thai authorities knowing they will be taken care of by international facilitators and South Korea.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/11/06/opinion/opinion_30018147.php

[Daewoo]

Let the women stay. they could contribute to Thailand GDP.

Why can't North Korean just stay at home, instead of roaming the world causing trouble to innocent counties like Thailand. The world should have laws and punishment against economic migrant

Just because you do not like your country leader does not give you the right to move to another country. Else millions of Red-shirts might want to migrate too.

Chantorn,

These two statements are the opposite of each other, which one did you mean???

These refugees don't want to stay in Thailand, they want to make it to South Korea where they share a nationality and a culture...

[chaoyang]

I wouldn't be surprised if there is more to the story than this. People just can't transit through China. The border is sealed since the Chinesey are terrified....

The Chinese government is not omnipotent. There are all types of illegal activities underway in the nation that go undetected. The North Koreans would surely need help from Chinese people, but that is totally within the realm of possibility. I think it's fair to say most Chinese do not like their government, but they tolerate it because they have little choice right now.

The government, with all its spies, police and monitoring, is barely able to keep a lid on things in China, and sometimes they are unable to. It simply doesn't get reported, but there are "mass incidents" all the time in China which can include burning of police stations, fights against the police, attacks on officials, etc.

Sure the North Koreans could travel the length of China, but as I said, they would mostly likely need to be driven in a car or truck.

[james24]

Theres a documentary out on youtube called ¨"crossing the line¨".

Its about 4 u.s soldiers who in the middle of the Korean War crossed over the DMZ to start a new life in N.Korea and up till today have lived there lives there, truly fascinating.

[Thai at Heart]

There was a documentary on Discovery a few years ago about a South Korean preacher who used to help smuggle North Korean defectors across China to Thailand.

He has travelled many times into China, and the gist of the story was that the Chinese preferred him to try to do this than have the defectors try to bolt into embassies in Beijing which resulted in an international diplomatic mess.

The Chinese might be harsh in their view of North Korean defectors but do you think they are so inhumane as to want to catch defectors and send them back to North Korea? The Chinese version of don't ask don't tell.

[chaoyang]

As well right on the border in Jilin Province, China, is an "autonomous country" whose majority of residents are ethnic Koreans. They no doubt could help North Koreans cross the border and be in a position organize their travel onward.

[Tracechain]

"" The escape route has been well known for many years. Usually in the past, though, I gather the North Koreans also tried their best not to get caught by Thai police. They usually headed straight to BKK and got on a plane to South Korea with false documents.

The Laos leg of their journey involves trudging through jungle for a number of days - for which most of them are ill prepared - so maybe this particular group just had a tougher time of it and just gave themselves up out of exhaustion, unless this new 'agreement' thing is true. ""

My favourite subject at school was Geography......so without giving the game away ....How do refugees completely circumvent China in the North by several hundreds of miles. Go trudging through jungles in Laos/Cambodia avoid stepping on US ordanance and blowing their legs off and end up in North Thailand with enough money to get to BKK. Then get on a plane with "false documents" and fly to South Korea.....!!!???

If there is an "agreement" between the governments to re-patriate. Why would they need false documents?

I read the details on the link and other articles before, these people are "dirt poor" so getting enough money together to bribe, feed and travel around must be nigh on impossible.

All very sad.

I really feel for these poor people. George Bush and Tony Blair went marching off round the globe to rid us of the worlds evil dictators...but only in mineral rich countries overflowing in oil reserves strangley enough.....so they avoided North Korea, Mr Mugabe and Thailands sister dictatorship on the Western border..........

You show very little knowledge of geography and world politics when you consider that the main reason NOT to invade N. Korea is their lack of resources. You may also consider that they have the backing of China, have quite a large military coupled with a persecution complex, may well possess nuclear weapons, and that the border is in artillery and rocket (and also missile) range of Seoul. And you think Bush is an idiot!

My sincere apologies...but I was being IRONIC about my statement at the bottom about BUSH and BLAIR...........................Bush would have been a bigger IDIOT (your word not mine) if he invaded a small S.E. Asian country bristling with nuclear Armamants backed up by a giant communist regime....Did the Americans not try that before and failed miserably and left a legacy of damage that will never go away in S.E. Asia...???

http://www.khmercity...omment%3A509570

Ooooooops there I go again being IRONIC.....But since I have little knowledge of Geography ( Phd ) after visiting and working on every continent on the planet and 35 different countries before settling in LOS what the hel_l would I know ??????? all I was asking is the obvious as are others on this post - why do the N.Koreans go through such a long route march to get to next door....

Henry...Henry Kissinger is that you? Wow! Have you seen Elvis?

[Guest]

There is no agreement (wishful thinking) if they are caught they are turned over to nk officials

how about you and all your 'geography expert' friends shutting tfu? it really is a sad story how the likes of you can end up TEACHING kids here. arrogant cocky leftovers.