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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:41 pm Post subject: North Korea Defections on Rise |
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SEOUL, South Korea � Defections from North Korea have risen markedly in recent years, South Korean officials said Monday, driven both by worsening economic conditions and more news from abroad filtering into the secretive communist state.
About 2,900 people defected to the South last year, said Lee Jong-joo, an official with the Unification Ministry, and more than 2,000 have defected so far this year. She cited �humanitarian reasons, including the food situation,� as being among the leading reasons cited for defecting and said that 70 percent of defectors were women.
The South Korean government announced on Monday that a 41-year-old woman had become the 20,000th North Korean to defect to South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Ms. Lee said the woman and her two teenage sons, from Yanggang Province in the northern part of North Korea, defected last week because of economic hardships. Ms. Lee declined to describe their route.
Most defectors from Yanggang cross directly into neighboring China and then make their way to South Korea. Defections across the heavily militarized North-South border are nearly impossible because of fences, land mines, sensors and guard posts.
Ms. Lee said the woman and her sons, like all defectors, would be sequestered and interrogated by military intelligence agents for about three months. They will then spend another three months in Hanawon, a state-run orientation facility that teaches newcomers about South Korean government, society and daily life. They are taught how to shop for groceries and other necessities, open a bank account, use a cellphone, enroll in schools and look for jobs.
It is not always a happy transition, despite the deprivations and political repression in the impoverished North and the relative freedom and material comforts in the South. Northerners are often viewed with suspicion by South Koreans, who see them as rough and unsophisticated. Also, North Korean professionals like architects, engineers and doctors are not automatically licensed in the South and typically have to start their educations from scratch.
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:46 am Post subject: Re: North Korea Defections on Rise |
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| catman wrote: |
| Ms. Lee declined to describe their route. |
Hate to give the game away ..but, into China and down into SE Asia. Then a cheap flight from Bangkok to seoul..(obviously). |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:27 pm Post subject: Re: North Korea Defections on Rise |
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| Junior wrote: |
| catman wrote: |
| Ms. Lee declined to describe their route. |
Hate to give the game away ..but, into China and down into SE Asia. Then a cheap flight from Bangkok to seoul..(obviously). |
Also, the less used alternative is to sneak into Mongolia and then get a flight from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul. |
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spicy
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Location: Sinchon / Ewha / Hongdae
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 3:32 am Post subject: |
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| why don't they just take the subway? |
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Lionman
Joined: 13 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 9:20 am Post subject: |
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Hanawon's near where I live.
They also built some new government apartments nearby intended for low-income, but also NK defectors are relocated here to live.
They have no freedom in choosing where they want to live and sometimes have to commute long distances to work.
Another way for the Korean government to keep tabs on defectors who are NK spies in disguise. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 3:09 pm Post subject: Re: North Korea Defections on Rise |
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| Junior wrote: |
| catman wrote: |
| Ms. Lee declined to describe their route. |
Hate to give the game away ..but, into China and down into SE Asia. Then a cheap flight from Bangkok to seoul..(obviously). |
I believe there's actually a kind of resettlement facility in BKK that they can defect to without paying for a flight themselves. |
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