Crackdowns fail to deter asylum seekers from making the hazardous journey south

Thailand remains the safest route for asylum seekers from North Korea seeking to get to South Korea, despite frequent crackdowns by officials, according to defectors who have settled in the South's capital, Seoul.

"Thailand has grown more important in the past several years. Decades ago, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mongolian routes were popular, until media exposure resulted in crackdowns," said 51-year-old Lee Kwang-cheol (not his real name).

Mr Lee was a senior civil servant in Pyongyang and one of 468 North Koreans airlifted from Ho Chi Minh City to Seoul after a diplomatic intervention by former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun in July 2004.

He did not initially plan to escape North Korea but was persuaded to follow a man in the community who had fled to China on his way there.

He took some time to think about it and finally agreed to embark on the long journey.

Mr Lee took the same route and joined other escapees along the way as he crouched in a boat crossing the Tumen River bordering China.

(Map via Creative Commons)

"Decades ago, people who left North Korea were either civil servants or ordinary people fleeing the devastating famine which hit the country in the mid-1990s.

"But lately, asylum seekers have cited reasons other than economic hardship. They have learned more about the outside world and want to live like other societies," said Mr Lee.

Smuggling fees which once ranged between 1-1.5 million won (38,000-58,000 baht) have now increased to nearly 10 million won, he said.

"The defectors have to pay North Korean-Chinese syndicates which hold accounts in China. They normally do not have to pay again as they flee," he said.

His ordeal took him 15 days until he reached the southern Vietnamese city, where he waited half a year until he was sent on a plane to Seoul.

A year later, he tried to get his wife and his children to escape but they were captured.

"Fortunately, I have friends and relatives who helped them. They were released and not threatened. But my wife later married another man," he said.

According to the Immigration Bureau, the number of North Koreans entering Thailand illegally has increased over the past decade.

The current figure is around 2,000 a year, but the number could rise further as a new route via Laos will make make it easier to travel to Thailand.

For another defector, Shin Seon-mi, 44, fate also played a kind hand.

The slender traditional Korean dramatist from Changjin and her tailor husband were permitted to visit her father who was living in China, but they decided not to return home.

"In North Korea, sometimes we watched TV programmes other than the designated ones and the authorities threatened to come after us," said Ms Shin.

Life in China was not that rosy and after two to three years, her husband suggested a move to South Korea. "I was not convinced as we just had a baby and were settled but he said that for our future and safety, we should go to South Korea," said Ms Shin.

She wrote to the South Korean government in 2006 and was endorsed for resettlement. They had to pay for the whole family, including their 2-year-old son and 2-month-old baby, to sneak out via Laos.

After crossing the Mekong River, they were abandoned in a Thai border province and someone suggested they simply walk to the immigration checkpoint to be arrested.

"I still feel thankful the Thai authorities did not push us away. Of course, they looked weary, saying 'Another North Korean?' But at least they took us in," said Ms Shin. She and her family had to spend a year dealing with court proceedings concerning their illegal migration before flying off to Seoul.

Not all defectors are so lucky, Mr Lee and Ms Shin said.

"Many people die during their escape, especially via Mongolia, as it is very cold. Some suffer frostbite and have to have limbs amputated. Some women are raped or sexually abused in China and elsewhere," said Mr Lee.

In early September, South Korea's Reunification Ministry said 894 North Korean defectors had managed to reach the South this year.

Early this month, seven North Koreans who reached South Korea via Thailand brought to 30,000 the total number of defectors thought to have fled from North Korea to the South since records began.

Figures for recent years are hard to come by, but the number of North Koreans who escaped through Thailand in 2010 was 2,482. In 2011, almost all North Koreans arriving in South Korea were sent from Thailand.

"How long defectors have to wait in transit countries depends on demand. In Korea, after a month of re-education about Korean culture and society, defectors can choose where they want to resettle. Of course, most choose Seoul but not everyone can get there," said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee said the assistance allowance in 2004 was 3 million won (100,000 baht) which now increased to 7 million won (300,000 baht).

Source:
courtesy of BANGKOK POST

by ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

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