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Surge in North Koreans slipping into Thailand: immigration


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Posted

Surge in North Koreans slipping into Thailand: immigration

By Panu Wongcha-um

 

2017-08-01T094819Z_1_LYNXMPED702B4_RTROPTP_3_THAILAND-NORTHKOREA-REFUGEES.JPG

A long boat sails near the port of Chiang Saen on the Thai side of the Golden Triangle at the border between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar in the Mekong river, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The number of North Koreans slipping illegally into Thailand has surged in recent months, according to immigration bureau officials, as tensions mount on the Korean peninsula because of Pyongyang's weapons programmes.

 

Thailand is on a popular transit route for North Koreans defecting from the impoverished communist state. Hundreds flee each year to China and make it to Thailand after an overland journey, from where they are usually sent on to South Korea.

 

In 2016, there were 535 North Korean arrivals in Thailand, but the first six months of this year saw 385 arrivals, according to data from Thailand's immigration bureau seen by Reuters, and more are arriving each week.

 

"An average of 20 to 30 North Koreans arrive each week now in northern Thailand alone," said an immigration official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

 

The surge has come despite tighter controls by North Korea on its border with China. It coincides with rising tensions on the Korean peninsula over Pyongyang's stepped up nuclear and missile tests and warnings by the United States that it was losing patience with the isolated state.

 

However, Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, a Seoul-based NGO, said the number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea had not increased this year, implying that those coming through Thailand could be making up a higher proportion of the total.

 

The South's Unification Ministry said 593 North Korean defectors had come to the South in the first six months, against 1,418 last year and 1,275 in 2015.

 

Most North Koreans enter Thailand at its northernmost tip, near the Golden Triangle, from neighbouring Laos, the Thai immigration officials said, but new routes had also emerged further south.

 

"We have seen many North Koreans entering the country in several northeastern provinces along the Mekong River in the last few years," said Captain Chonlathai Rattanaruang, a commander of the Mekong River Navy patrol.

 

Another officer confirmed the trend. He told Reuters that groups of North Koreans have been entering Thailand through northeastern provinces bordering Laos including Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom, where the Mekong forms the international frontier.

 

UNOFFICIAL UNDERSTANDING

 

Officially, Thailand treats North Koreans who enter the country as illegal migrants rather than refugees.

 

Thailand has not signed the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees and has no specific law on refugees.

 

Unofficially, arrangements are often made between Thai authorities, the South Korean government, and defectors on the ground.

 

"The North Koreans come to Thailand to get arrested so they will get an asylum to South Korea," said Roongroj Tannawut, a district official of Chiang Khong district near the Golden Triangle.

 

North Korean defectors who enter Thailand are arrested and prosecuted for illegal entry.

 

They are then transferred to an immigration detention center in Bangkok before being deported, usually to South Korea.

 

"Since the South Korean constitution recognizes all Koreans as its citizens, it is possible for Thailand to recognize South Korea as a legitimate destination to deport North Koreans," Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, told Reuters.

 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees rarely processes North Korean defectors in Thailand because of the arrangement between Thailand and South Korea.

 

"People fleeing North Korea don't usually approach UNHCR offices as they have other ways of seeking safety," Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for UNHCR Asia, told Reuters.

 

The South Korean Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment on their role when contacted.

 

(Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-8-1
Posted
1 minute ago, NCC1701A said:

lets hope the CIA and MI6 are debriefing each and everyone of them.

Would be helpful as the Thai Spooks are busy conducting raids on open air stalls to seize counterfeit T-shirts!

Posted
27 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

I can imagine them working their way through China, but how do they get across the Korea/Chinese border?

By swapping passports with Thais on their way into Korea? Oh sorry, the Thais are out to SOUTH Korea, if I remember this right....

Posted
1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

So if they do not have the 20k THB that has become a standard for "quality tourists", are they deported back to North Korea!!!??:post-4641-1156694572:

They are deported to South Korea.  The South Koreans will always accept N. Koreans deported from other countries and Thailand is a preferred destination for escaping N. Koreans because they always send them on to S. Korea.

Posted
4 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

lets hope the CIA and MI6 are debriefing each and everyone of them.

I can imagine the questioning with a light shining in their eyes and the threat of waterboarding hanging over them......

 

"So just how many carrots do you grow a year and who do you sell them to?  Come on buster, start talking!!!"

Posted
2 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Rats deserting the sinking ship, and not wanting to be bombed silly !

Yes, so they move right next door to the first target on the DPRK's retaliation list. Why not think before you post every once in a while?

Posted
17 hours ago, observer90210 said:

So if they do not have the 20k THB that has become a standard for "quality tourists", are they deported back to North Korea!!!??:post-4641-1156694572:

living in chiang saen, chiang rai, they just get over the mekong (not that hard), then camp out on wherever they can lay their heads; immig, police all know about it; only issue is when they try  to go somewhere thru the checkpoints without docs; if these folks Really knew about this , we would have a N Korean sub-community here;

(dont think we want that)

Posted
9 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Soon they will realize that the regime in the country that they fled to have the same ideas that the country they fled from.

Stupidest most pathetic dig at Thailand I've read in ages. Are you really comparing Thailand to NK?

Stupid Stupid Stupid

Posted

I have read several books written by North Korean defectors. basically the Chinese border is porous. It is the only land route to get in and out. The next struggle is traveling overland in China to then get over the Laos border and down in to Thailand. As it states in the article there is a process that has been operating for some time in Thailand whereby they are sent back to South Korea. It is a long dangerous and tortuous route and shows how desperate these people are.

 

As for comparing NK with LoS, I tend do agree, most of the censorship and mad military laws have direct similarities and if you disagree I suggest you take off the rose tinted specs and smell the coffee.....     

Posted
20 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Rats deserting the sinking ship, and not wanting to be bombed silly !

I would not call them rats - smart people getting out before the s**t hits the fan. :thumbsup:

Posted
18 hours ago, lvr181 said:

I would not call them rats - smart people getting out before the s**t hits the fan. :thumbsup:

They've been trying to escape for years.  Unless you are in power, it's a terrible place to live.  Many are desperate to leave due to persecutions.

Posted
23 hours ago, lonewolf99 said:

I have read several books written by North Korean defectors. basically the Chinese border is porous. It is the only land route to get in and out. The next struggle is traveling overland in China to then get over the Laos border and down in to Thailand. As it states in the article there is a process that has been operating for some time in Thailand whereby they are sent back to South Korea. It is a long dangerous and tortuous route and shows how desperate these people are.

 

As for comparing NK with LoS, I tend do agree, most of the censorship and mad military laws have direct similarities and if you disagree I suggest you take off the rose tinted specs and smell the coffee.....     

Of course, there are a few direct dissimilarities too. Little things like much freer media, access to foreign films and goods, freedom of overseas travel, availablity of food (in 2013 ONLY 27% of DPRK children were malnourished).

 

I could go on for quite a while, but you get the message. But who is wearing the red glasses?

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