Seoul's "silent diplomacy" and northern refugees

A new beginning for refugees thanks in part to the cooperation of China and Christian Churches.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – "We welcome the newly arrived northern brethren, while appreciating Seoul's diplomatic efforts for their successful entry into the Republic of Korea." This is how an editorial writer for The Korea Times expressed the satisfaction felt by many about the arrival in Seoul of 468 refugees from North Korea, this despite Pyongyang's portrayal of the event as "planned kidnapping" by South Korea and "its accomplices".

The cooperation of a third country in South-East Asia made the transfer operation possible. Its main condition was "silent diplomacy".

Let us see what the events meant and may still mean for the parties to the crisis.

On July 27 and 28, 468 North Korean defectors, mostly women and children, got off two chartered planes that had landed in a military airport just outside Seoul. Several buses, curtains drawn, took them directly to refugee centres off-limits to journalists. The South Korean government remained tight-lipped throughout the affair. All that is officially known is that the planes took off from an undisclosed country in South-East Asia.

Escaping southward is not something new for North Koreans. Since the end in 1953 of the hot war between the two sides to the Korean conflict, single or small groups of escapees have made their way out of the North. The latest, large-scale escape could only happen because of the direct involvement of the South Korean government.

Since May of this year, officials in South Korea's Foreign Ministry have been in touch with their counterparts in this "third country" in South-East Asia in order to bring North Korean refugees to South Korea.

Seoul's actions were both clever and competent, but the top prize for effectiveness goes to those South Korean religious and civic groups involved for years in China and South-East Asia on behalf of their fellow citizens from the north. They are the ones who informed and urged the government to act.

The sighs of relief that mission accomplished might have brought have however been tempered by concerns for the future. South Korea is poised to change its refugee policy.

According to its Constitution, there is but one Korea, and defectors are not exiles, but citizens with the same rights as those already living in the South. Hence, they are automatically granted a residence permit. However, until recently, this right was more virtual than real because of the dearth of applicants. In 1998, fore example, there were only 71 refugees. However, since then the number of refugees making the perilous journey has passed 5,000.

Minister for Unification Chung Dong-young said: "We've so far focused on helping small numbers of North Korean defectors settle in the country. [Now,] we need to review and upgrade the overall policy [because] we expect that figure to surpass 10,000 within a few years."

Professor Kim Dong-kyu of Korea University concurs adding that "the government should set up a large-scale resettlement camp in which North Koreans will work in various sectors, including agriculture, stock farming and engineering after they go through a basic adaptation period in Hanawon (near Seoul)."

The transition from living in a communist society and economy where everything is centrally-planned, perhaps even starvation, to a capitalist system can be a difficult experience.

Yeo Jung-ok, a 33-year-old woman who fled 2 years ago knows about it all too well. In the beginning she wanted to go to university but has had to settle washing cars at a gas station. "I had to start from scratch," she said, "because the gap is huge between the South and North in terms of knowledge and technology."

Integrating northerners into southern society is a responsibility that falls on all southerners, not only the government. The South Korean Catholic Church has urged the faithful to nurture a spirit of reconciliation vis-à-vis their northern brethren. Religious and civic groups are thus faced with the need to develop concrete measures that deal with the problem right away.

The paradox of China as a bridge of salvation

As mentioned, defectors were very few till recently, making their escape mostly across the theoretically demilitarised zone along the 38th parallel. They fled largely for political reasons trying to get through the few dozen km separating them from freedom. Since 1998, their journey towards the "promised land" now takes them at least 5,000 km from their homes, across the Tumen and Yalu rivers that mark the border between North Korea China. According to experts, hunger, not political repression, is the main factor pushing hundreds of thousands of North Koreans to leave.

From a geographical point of view, China has become one huge land bridge linking border towns like Shenyang with its large Korean-Chinese population to South Asia whose countries –Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia– now have close and warm relations with South Korea thanks to the latter's economic assistance.

The situation in China is however complex. On the one hand, since it established diplomatic relations with South Korea, it has taken a more balanced approach to Pyongyang and Seoul. On the other, it remains an ideological ally of North Korea and by treaty must repatriate any North Korean defectors.

According to the US Committee for Refugees Chinese authorities sent some 7,800 North Korean defectors back last year. Their fate is not hard to guess. Never the less, tens if not hundreds of thousands are still living in China usually in pitiful conditions, in fear that they, too, might be sent back. Some observers point to such conditions and fears as the main cause of the high number of suicides among North Korean refugees in China. If that were not all, local mafias extort large sums from the refugees to help move them along this southbound "underground railroad", in some cases forcing women into prostitution.

"It is very important that the government engages in active diplomatic negotiations with China and strengthens international alliances for the safety of defectors because China may step up its crackdown on them," said Do Hee-youn of the Citizens' Alliance for Human Rights of North Korean Defectors.

The South Korean government has for some time pursued a "silent diplomacy" vis-à-vis China, but this approach may no longer be sufficient. "In the future," writes The Korea Times in its editorial page, "[the government] may need large ships for [the refugees'] transportation, along with a little 'louder diplomacy' in order to uphold the human rights of refugees in China."

International mediation

"Apart from efforts to secure the safety of North Koreans in China and other third countries, the government needs to address food shortages and human rights abuses in North Korea to stop more defectors from the North," said Lee Seung-yong, a leading civic activist on North Korean issues.

True enough, but South Korea cannot be accused of backsliding on the issue. According to Unification Ministry figures, South Korea donated US$ 146 million in humanitarian aid in the first half of this year. Seoul has also worked hard for the past 4 years to keep channels of communication with the North open.

The main obstacle to aid flowing north remains Pyongyang's suspicious nature and pride. Case in point: the spokesperson for the communist regime's Committee for the reunification of the motherland reiterating North Korea's claim that the escape of more than 450 people was an act of "kidnapping and terrorism carried out in broad daylight by South Korea."

Only the combined efforts of the international community, especially those of the countries involved in the six-nation talks in Beijing and those of the European Union, can breach the wall of unreasonable opposition by North Korea. Fortunately, the international community seems to be moving in that direction.

• south
• korea
• north
• korea
• china
• refugees
• human
• rights
• diplomacy