59 North Koreans Rounded Up In Pathum Thani

[george]

59 North Koreans rounded up in Pathum Thani

PATHUM THANI: -- Police have rounded up 59 North Koreans from a house in Pathum Thani for illegally entering the country.

Police raided the house in Muang Aik housing estate in Pathum Thani's Muang district at 7 pm on Tuesday and found the illegal immigrants, including nine men and nine children. The rest are women.

They told police through an interpreter tat they sneaked into Thailand through Laos.

-- The Nation 2006-11-29

[Scott]

This seems to be a trend. I think it wasn't long ago when there was a similar story about a rather large number of N. Koreans found in a house.

I am curious as to why Thailand is such a choice destination. Is it the closest for not being repatriated for sure?

[Jai Dee]

59 North Koreans arrested in Pathum Thani

Police have arrested 59 North Koreans who were trying to sneak to South Korea Embassy in Bangkok to seek asylum and resettlement.

Police said they will hold them for questioning before sending them to court to face charges of illegal entry and probably deportation.

The group, including 10 children aged under 13, were arrested in a rented house in Pakkhong Rangsit district of Pathumthani province.

"They said they were trying to go to the South Korean embassy in Bangkok to seek asylum because they didn't want to live in the land of their birth," said Challawudh in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

The 59 escapees from North Korea were the latest batch of hundreds of their countrymen who have crossed into China and Laos to travel to Thailand.

In October, a Thai court charged 91 North Koreans, including 52 women and 13 children, with illegal entry and ordered them to seek refuge in a third country, namely South Korea.

Source: The Nation - 29 November 2006

[Jai Dee]

Thailand arrests 59 NKorean defectors

A group of 59 North Korean defectors, mostly women and children, were arrested Tuesday in a house where they were hiding in suburban Bangkok, police said.

They were arrested in Pathum Thani, the same suburb where 91 North Koreans were arrested in October, police Major General Praphan Panikom said.

"Initial investigations found that they were smuggled into Thailand from Laos. They were charged with illegal entry and they will go to court (Wednesday)," he said.

Chronic food and energy shortages have driven a growing number of North Koreans from their impoverished homeland.

Thailand has become an increasingly popular transit country for North Korean defectors who cross China and then Myanmar or Laos before they set out for their final destination, usually South Korea.

In August, a group of 175 North Koreans was arrested in the largest single group of defectors from the communist state ever arrested in Thailand.

The courts order most of the North Koreans arrested in Thailand to be repatriated, but the majority end up being allowed to resettle in South Korea.

Source: The Manager - 29 November 2006

[kmart]

This seems to be a trend. I think it wasn't long ago when there was a similar story about a rather large number of N. Koreans found in a house.

I am curious as to why Thailand is such a choice destination. Is it the closest for not being repatriated for sure?

Looks like LOS is a "regional hub" for people smuggling. Hoorah!

[baboon]

Lock em up and deport them, eh? The poor bastards [sorry for the language] just need a helping hand to get them into South Korea. From what I have read, they have no wish to stay in Thailand. If they ARE deported, I hope the officials responsible sleep well in the knowlege they have sent these unfortunates to their certain deaths.

Yes, they broke Thai law. Yes, detain them if you must but cut them some slack Thailand, please! You are the first to complain about your citizens being badly treated abroad, especially Korea if my memory serves me right.

[Scott]

Usually these people are quietly resettled in South Korea. I think the difficulty is that the Thai gov't doesn't want them coming here. One way to stop them is to send a bunch back--when the word spreads, then they don't come here--at least that is how the gov't reasons these actions.

This is why it's important for the UN to have a reasonably strong and active presence here (and everywhere). These people need protection.

[LaoPo]

It's beyond imagination how those people fleed their country into Thailand over such an enormous distance.

Where did they stay, where did they eat, did they have money, how did they avoid border-controls...so many questions.

Unbelievable.

Hope they will send them to South Korea as there's no future for them in LOS but for them any country is better than North Korea I suppose...

LaoPo

[konangrit]

I am curious as to why Thailand is such a choice destination. Is it the closest for not being repatriated for sure?

That's correct, China,Vietnam,Laos, and Myanmar, and (I guess) Russia will deport back to the DPRK, Thailand will let them go to South Korea after serving a token punishment for illegal entry. I guess it's just closer than Cambodia or India. There are supposed to be a lot hiding out in China amongst ethnic Korean Chinese communities, so Thailand shouldn't expect it to stop anytime soon.

I'm not sure why so many more seem to have been caught this year hiding in houses, all they have to do is hand themselves in to a police station after they enter the country. Guess if they make it to the South Korean Embassy without getting picked up then they don't spend any time locked up in Thailand.

Thailand just don't want to be seen to be encouraging it, but they're pretty friendly towards them compared to other countries in the region.

I'm planning on going to DPRK next year.

Edited November 30, 2006 by konangrit

[konangrit]

Usually these people are quietly resettled in South Korea. I think the difficulty is that the Thai gov't doesn't want them coming here. One way to stop them is to send a bunch back--when the word spreads, then they don't come here--at least that is how the gov't reasons these actions.

This is why it's important for the UN to have a reasonably strong and active presence here (and everywhere). These people need protection.

Yep, they'll most likely be sent to what are basically concentration camps if deported back to the DPRK, where they would be under serious threat of torture or even death.

[Jai Dee]

Arrested north Korean defectors will resettle in South Korea

North Korean defectors arrested in Pathum Thani recently will be sent for resettlement in South Korea, immigration police and the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

"The North Koreans have been transferred to the immigration detention centre to be processed to go to South Korea if it is their wish," UNHCR spokeswomen Kitty McKinsey told Agence France Presse.

The defectors, mostly women and children, were discovered Tuesday after they made the long trek across China and through Laos to enter Thailand.

"They will be deported to a third country because normally North Korean defectors don't want to go back to their home country," said Suwat Thamrongsrisukul, Bangkok's immigration police chief.

He did not give a date for the deportation of the 59 North Koreans.

Police Major General Praphan Panikom said Wednesday that the migrants had been charged with illegal entry and sentenced to six months in prison, but said the court had ordered them to be handed over to immigration police instead.

Previous groups of North Korean defectors have received similar sentences, but they usually end up being accepted by South Korea rather than being sent home.

Source: The Nation - 30 November 2006

[bkkmadness]

Good luck to them.