[Cankor] Report #247

[cankor at cankor.ca]

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #247 of the CanKor Report.

It's been a slow week in QUIDNUNC land.
Victor Hsu makes an addition to last week's response to the question: How 
many people in North Korea have unfettered access to information about the 
world outside the DPRK?

No one has responded to the question regarding the number of NGOs that 
continue to remain resident in the DPRK. Does anybody know?

Send your replies to editor at CanKor.ca.
But also, do you have any questions that may stump or amuse our many expert 
subscribers and contributors? We'd like to hear from you.

The CanKor team.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
Contents section, should you wish to consult the originals on the internet.

If the links no longer function, you may refer to the full text articles
appended to the issue.

For back issues, archives and other content, please visit our website:
http://www.cankor.ca
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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 247

Monday, 8 May 2006
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The campaign to grant asylum to North Korean refugees and defectors who wish 
to relocate to the USA is gathering steam. This week's CanKor is a 
full-edition FOCUS that assembles the latest stories on the plight of 
refugee-defectors who seek entry into the American dream.

The Los Angeles Immigration Court grants political asylum status to a DPR 
Korean who entered the USA via Mexico, after having already legally settled 
in South Korea. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the 
case is not relevant to the 2004 North Korea Human Rights Act, since the Act 
deals only to those who have not already legally settled in a third country.

US Senator Sam Brownback announces that asylum has been granted to six 
additional refugee-defectors who arrived in the USA from an unnamed 
Southeast Asian nation. These are the first to be given official refugee 
status under the North Korean Human Rights Act, which Brownback had 
initiated.

The fate of refugee-defector Ma Young-ae remains unclear. Ma, who defected 
to the ROK from the DPRK in 2000, has filed for political asylum in the 
United States, claiming political repression by the South Korean government. 
20 other North Koreans have filed a similar petition.

Family members of a DPR Korean who had been forcibly returned to the DPRK 
from China report that he has been condemned to execution for treason. With 
the help of a pre-paid mobile phone, the sister conveyed the information to 
a younger brother who lives in Seoul. Although the reports are impossible to 
verify, this marks the first instance where news of a planned execution has 
made it to the outside world beforehand.

US President Bush issues a statement after meeting DPR Korean 
refugee-defectors in the Oval Room of the White House.

This week's OPINION was originally published in "Jahrbuch Menschenrechte" 
(Yearbook Human Rights, Germany, November 2005). The article "Human Rights 
in Korea" by Hyon Dok CHOE and Lutz Drescher deals with both North and South 
Korea. A translation of the part dealing with the DPRK is included here. 
Author Lutz Drescher worked as an ecumenical co-worker in RO Korea between 
1987 and 1995, and is currently East Asia Liaison Secretary for the 
Association of Churches and Missions in South West Germany.
*************************************************

FOCUS: The American dream of refugee-defectors

1.   DPRK REFUGEE-DEFECTOR GRANTED US ASYLUM
     http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200604/kt2006043016552110220.htm

2.   ASYLUM CASE INDEPENDENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACT
     http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060505/630000000020060505050510E7.html

3.   US GRANTS ASYLUM TO REFUGEES FROM DPRK
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/06/AR2006050600911.html

4.   DPRK DEFECTOR SEEKS ASYLUM FROM ROK
     http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-asylum8may08,0,2650590.story?coll=la-home-world

5.   DISSIDENTS GIVE A NAME TO CONDEMNED CHRISTIAN
     http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a4e51208-da09-11da-b7de-0000779e2340.html

6.   BUSH MEETS WITH DPRK REFUGEE-DEFECTORS
     White House Press Release

OPINION
7.   HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE DPRK
     Original article, copyright Lutz Drescher

QUIDNUNC: Readers ask and respond to common and uncommon questions
*************************************************

1.   DPRK REFUGEE-DEFECTOR GRANTED US ASYLUM
     by Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter, Korea Times, 30 April 2006

The US immigration court has granted asylum status to a North Korean 
defector, and is expecting similar cases to follow. The ruling is the first 
case since the North Korea Human Rights Act, passed in 2004, calling on the 
US government to allow North Korean refugees into US territory. Seo Jae-sok, 
39, a North Korean defector, was given political asylum status by the Los 
Angeles Immigration Court last Friday, after waiting for the decision in the 
US for the past 20 months.

"I am happy and feel incredible that I can receive a US passport. I hope my 
case will become a hope for other North Korean refugees seeking asylum in 
the United States," he said in an interview with The Los Angeles Korea 
Times. His case is unusual because he and his family had already settled in 
South Korea and obtained South Korean citizenship, but decided to seek 
asylum in the United States. The court concluded he faces persecution in 
North Korea and granted him political asylum, his lawyer said.

Seo is a former North Korean military officer who went to the United States 
with his wife and two children and requested asylum status in 2004. Seo 
defected with his son to China from North Korea in 1997 but was returned 
under forced repatriation to North Korea. According to Miriam Kang of Human 
Rights Project, a California-based, non-profit human rights organization, he 
entered the United States via the Mexican border in 2004.

"Although I am free now, it is a pity to think others are still suffering 
pain and poverty in North Korea," he said. However, when he came to South 
Korea in 1998 after a series of short stays in other countries, it was not 
easy for him to settle with his family in the South due to bias against 
North Korean defectors. He said that although he met his wife, a North 
Korean defector, in the South and has a sweet daughter now, he was not happy 
in South Korea.

"I decided to request asylum in the United States as my son was suffering 
from discrimination at a South Korean school just because he is a child of 
North Korean defectors," he said. If the US Immigration office does not 
appeal to a higher court later, his asylum status will be finalized.

Currently, some 10 North Korean refugees are seeking asylum in the United 
States. However, Washington's position was that the act covers only those 
who have not already acquired citizenship of another country and are in 
immediate danger. Legal observers and South Korean officials said it was not 
yet clear whether Seo was granted asylum under the human rights act as it is 
entirely possible that the Los Angeles court acted on its own, interpreting 
the legislation independently.
*************************************************

2.   ASYLUM CASE INDEPENDENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACT
     by Lee Dong-min, Yonhap News Service, 5 May 2006

A recent US court decision granting asylum to a former North Korean refugee 
does not reflect the view of the Bush administration and is not expected to 
set precedent for other asylum seekers from Pyongyang, US officials and 
sources said this week. The Los Angeles Immigration Court had approved 
asylum for a North Korean defector who uses pseudonym "Seo Jae-seok" late 
last month. Seo and his son settled in South Korea in 1998 and obtained 
citizenship. He entered the US in 2003 through the Mexican border with a 
woman he married in the South and their son and daughter.

According to Seo's lawyer, the Los Angeles court considered him a North 
Korean national and decided to grant asylum. Seo, a former military officer, 
claims his family was discriminated against as defectors. His court ruling 
was made as the US prepares to accept North Korean refugees as mandated by 
the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004. But a State Department official 
recently told Yonhap Seo's case is not relevant to the act.

"It is not a part of the Human Rights Act," the official had said Tuesday, 
speaking on condition of anonymity. Section 302 of the law specifies that 
asylum eligibility goes to those who are in danger or flight and have not 
settled legally in another country. The official emphasized the court ruling 
was "completely independent" of administrative views. "We were surprised by 
the (court) decision," he said. "We are looking at it."

He said the Department of Homeland Security can appeal to overturn the court 
ruling but did not say whether it will. But a source well informed about 
North Korean refugee cases suggested Thursday the administration could 
"register concerns" about giving asylum to North Korean defectors who have 
already acquired legal residency in another country.

The US is preparing to accept the first group of North Korean refugees under 
the act, most of them seeking shelter in American and other embassy or 
consulate compounds in Asia. The State Department official said the US will 
work with the government of South Korea to confirm the identity of the 
refugees and to process them.
*************************************************

3.   US GRANTS ASYLUM TO GROUP OF REFUGEE-DEFECTORS
     Associated Press (AP), 7 May 2006

Six refugees from North Korea, including four women who say they were 
victims of sexual slavery or forced marriages, have fled to the United 
States, a senator said yesterday. The group is the first from North Korea to 
be given official refugee status since passage of a 2004 law that makes it 
easier for North Koreans to apply for such status.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) said the six refugees arrived at an undisclosed 
US location Friday night from a Southeast Asian nation. He would not 
identify which nation they came from because of worries about security for 
their families and to avoid diplomatic complications with the country that 
sent them.

"This is a great act of compassion by the United States and the other 
countries involved," said Brownback, a co-sponsor of the law. He said that 
the refugees' arrival in the United States showed "the act is working" by 
making the refugees' human rights a part of US policy toward North Korea.

The issue of North Korean human rights has gained attention in Washington as 
diplomatic efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons production program 
have stalled. Tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have fled 
across their border into China. The US special envoy on North Korean human 
rights, Jay Lefkowitz, said at a congressional hearing April 27: "We need to 
do more -- and we can and will do more -- for the North Korean refugees."

"We will press to make it clear to our friends and allies in the region that 
we are prepared to accept North Korean refugees for resettlement here," 
Lefkowitz said. North Korea long has been accused of torture, public 
executions and other atrocities against its people. As many as 200,000 
people are believed to be held in prison camps for political reasons, the 
State Department said in a report last year.
*************************************************

4.   DPRK DEFECTOR SEEKS ASYLUM FROM ROK
     by Barbara Demick, LA Times, 8 May 2006

With her accordion and a suitcase of spring clothes, Ma Young-ae flew from 
Seoul to Atlanta two years ago for a month long tour playing folk songs in 
church basements. But when it came time to return to Seoul with her musical 
troupe, Ma and her husband, North Korean defectors who had quarreled with 
the South Korean tour organizer, refused to go to the airport. What might 
have been just another spat between a prima donna and her manager has turned 
into a diplomatic incident that could strain relations between the United 
States and South Korea, one of its closest allies.

Ma, 50, has filed for political asylum in the United States, claiming 
repression by the South Korean government. About 20 other North Koreans have 
filed similar petitions in US immigration courts making the same argument, 
and in at least one case last month, asylum has been granted. Ma, a petite 
beauty with a heart-shaped face and daubs of purple eye shadow, defected 
from North Korea to China in 1999 and came to Seoul in 2000. She said she 
got into trouble when she became active in human rights organizations in the 
South that criticized the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

"'Don't talk about starvation. Don't talk about human rights,'" Ma said she 
was warned repeatedly by South Korean intelligence officials assigned to 
watch over her. "The South Korean government doesn't want anyone making 
statements that would antagonize Kim Jong Il," she said in an interview in 
her lawyer's office in New York. Like Cuban exiles, North Korean defectors 
tend to be unabashedly anticommunist - a stance at odds with the South 
Korean government's policy of rapprochement with the Pyongyang regime.

"The South Koreans are practically keeping these defectors under house 
arrest. They don't want anybody to rain on their sunshine," said Michael 
Horowitz, a conservative activist with the Washington-based Hudson 
Institute, referring to the "sunshine policy" of cooperation with North 
Korea. Ma is not the only North Korean defector to voice complaints. Many 
have said they were followed by intelligence agents and refused passports 
that would allow them to leave South Korea.

A former missile scientist who testified before Congress about North Korean 
weapons of mass destruction in 2003 has complained that his wife, a fellow 
defector, received so many threatening phone calls from South Korean agents 
while he was in the United States that she was hospitalized for stress. The 
scientist is among the North Koreans applying for asylum in the United 
States.

In 2004, Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act, which among 
other provisions ordered that North Korean defectors be granted political 
asylum in the United States. But that was directed at refugees coming 
directly from North Korea - not those who have already settled in South 
Korea. There is little dispute that North Koreans live under one of the 
world's most oppressive regimes or that they face persecution when they try 
to escape into China. Beijing routinely arrests and repatriates North 
Koreans. Over the weekend, six North Koreans who had been in hiding in China 
were flown to the United States for resettlement under the human rights act.

But, as Horowitz said, "once you go to South Korea, there is the strongest 
possible presumption that you are living in a democratic country and it 
makes it difficult to get asylum." He said US courts had avoided ruling on 
the petitions of the North Koreans to avoid offending the South Koreans. An 
exception is the case of a former North Korean military officer who last 
month was awarded asylum by a US immigration court in Los Angeles. The 
officer, Seo Jae-sok, had been living for six years in South Korea before he 
entered the United States through the Mexican border in 2004.

Although Seo has claimed he faced discrimination and harassment in South 
Korea, his lawyers argued the case primarily on conditions in North Korea.

"Our cases are based on the horrors of life in North Korea. If you had to 
prove persecution in South Korea, it would be a rare case that would win," 
said Jesse Moorman, a lawyer with the firm IRC, which has 15 similar cases 
pending. *************************************************

5.   DISSIDENTS GIVE A NAME TO CONDEMNED CHRISTIAN
     by Anna Fifield, Financial Times, 3 May 2006

When Son Jong-hoon's phone rang in Seoul six weeks ago, it brought the news 
he had been dreading. It was his sister, calling from Musan in northern 
North Korea to tell him that their eldest brother was to be executed.

"The death sentence has been determined but no one knows when the execution 
will take place," Mr. Son told the Financial Times last week. "We heard the 
news around the end of March and I see no reason for delaying the execution. 
My brother had escaped from the North before so it may come soon."

Son Jong-nam, 48, is accused of treason for preaching Christianity and 
betraying North Korea by sharing information with his brother, who now lives 
in South Korea. North Korea is among the world's most repressive governments 
and has one of the worst human rights records. But it is highly unusual for 
news of a planned execution to make it to the outside world. A campaign led 
by the younger Mr. Son, with the support of defector-led human rights 
organizations in South Korea and Christian activists, is the first mounted 
to prevent the death of a named individual in North Korea. It coincides with 
the re-emergence of North Korean human rights as a political issue. Last 
month activist groups held North Korea Freedom Week in Washington and a 
conference will be held in Norway next week.

The younger Mr. Son left North Korea in 1998, following his older brother, 
who had become a Christian during a year he spent in China. But in 2001, the 
elder Mr. Son was arrested by Chinese police and sent back to North Korea, 
where he spent three years in a prison camp. "The regime thought my brother 
was doing missionary work to spread (Christianity) to North Korea - he had 
to deny the allegations to survive," said Mr. Son, who made his way to South 
Korea in 2002. Religion is in effect banned in North Korea.Two years ago, 
the elder Mr. Son was released on parole and sent to work in the northern 
city of Chongjin. He managed to cross the border into China once more, where 
the brothers met again. "When I saw him in 2004, my brother had terrible 
injuries and could barely walk. He told me he went through terrible and 
harsh torture," Mr. Son says.

The elder Mr. Son returned to North Korea for fear of endangering his family 
there, but someone told the security office about the Chinese visit and he 
was arrested again. Using a pre-paid mobile phone that Mr. Son had given his 
older brother in 2004, their sister rang in January with news of the arrest 
and then in March with the sentence. It is not possible to verify Mr. Son's 
version of events but human rights activists say the account tallies with 
what is known about North Korea.

More than 20 organizations last Friday called on the National Human Rights 
Commission in Seoul to act to save Mr. Son's life. About 60 people 
demonstrated outside the North Korean embassy in London, in a protest 
organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide. "If this (execution) goes ahead 
it should affect relations and North Korea should be encouraged to take that 
into consideration," says Elizabeth Batha of CSW.

The campaign comes as the Bush administration, losing patience with talks on 
North Korea's nuclear ambitions, focuses increasingly on human rights. The 
North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004 requires the US administration to 
"facilitate" the entry of North Korean refugees into the US. But, concerned 
that none has been accepted from outside South Korea, Washington is 
understood to be looking in places such as Mongolia and Thailand for a North 
Korean who could quickly be taken to the US without the usual checks 
required for refugees from countries on the US list of state sponsors of 
terrorism.

There are estimated to be 200,000-300,000 North Koreans living in China, 
which considers them economic migrants and sends those who are caught back 
to North Korea. Human Rights Watch says people who are repatriated after 
leaving North Korea without permission are subject to harsh punishments, 
including time in forced labour camps and the death penalty, if they are 
found to have had contact with westerners or South Koreans, especially 
missionaries.

Mr. Son hopes his brother's case will serve as a lesson to the international 
community: "I would like to let the world know not only about my family 
tragedy but also about human rights violations prevailing in North Korea."
*************************************************

6.   BUSH MEETS WITH DPRK REFUGEE-DEFECTORS
     White House Press Release, 28 April 2006

THE PRESIDENT: I have just had one of the most moving meetings since I've 
been the President here in the Oval Office. I met with a mom and a brother 
who long to be reunited with her daughter and his sister. They're apart 
because the North Korean government abducted the child when she was a 
teenager. And all the mom wants is to be reunited with her daughter.

It is hard to believe that a country would foster abduction. It's hard for 
Americans to imagine that a leader of any country would encourage the 
abduction of a young child. It's a heartless country that would separate 
loved ones, and yet that's exactly what happened to this mom as a result of 
the actions of North Korea. If North Korea expects to be respected in the 
world, that county must respect human rights and human dignity and must 
allow this mother to hug her child again.

I talked to a family, a young North Korean family that escaped the clutches 
of tyranny in order to live in freedom. This young couple was about to have 
a child, and the mom was five months pregnant when they crossed the river to 
get into China. They wandered in China, wondering whether or not their child 
could grow up and have a decent life. They were deeply concerned about the 
future of their child. Any mother and father would be concerned about their 
child.

They had to wander because they did not want to have their child grow up in 
a society that was brutal, a society that did not respect the human 
condition. By the grace of God they found save haven, their child was born, 
and now safely sits here in the Oval Office.

I talked to a courageous man who escaped from North Korea. He was in the 
North Korean military. He saw first hand the brutal nature of the regime, 
and he couldn't -- his heart could no longer take it. He followed his 
conscience and escaped. He speaks for thousands who have escaped North Korea 
and thousands who live inside the country; he speaks eloquently about the 
need for their freedom, for them to be treated decently.

The world requires courage to confront people who do not respect human 
rights, and it has been my honor to welcome into the Oval Office people of 
enormous courage: a mom, a mother and dad of a young child, a former 
soldier, a brother. And so I welcome you here. We're proud you're here. I 
assure you that the United States of America strongly respects human rights. 
We strongly will work for freedom, so that the people of North Korea can 
raise their children in a world that's free and hopeful, and so that moms 
will never again have to worry about an abducted daughter.

May God bless you all, and thanks for coming.
*************************************************

OPINION

*************************************************

7.   HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE DPRK
     by Lutz Drescher, East Asia Liaison Secretary with the Association of 
Churches and Missions in South West Germany, November 2005

"There are only a few countries in the world about which we have as little 
accurate information as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea". This 
should be the first sentence of any article dealing in a serious way with 
North Korea. Regarding reports about North Korea, it is often quite 
difficult to decide what is fact and what is mere myth. In addition to this, 
political interests often influence the manner of reporting. This makes 
writing about the human rights situation in North Korea a difficult task.

In this article I am not going to probe into specific allegations, nor am I 
going to report about North Korean statements in these matters. Rather, I am 
going to name the dimensions of the question of human rights in North Korea, 
and will try to determine what might be the future developments.

The question of human rights has several dimensions. Very basically, one of 
them is the right to live. The basic right to live has been threatened in 
North Korea during a severe famine that took hold of the country in the 
second half of the nineties. The exact number of people who lost their lives 
is still unknown. According to sources in North Korea, the number is 250 
000, while international observers say up to three million people died. The 
cause of this famine has been a series of bad harvests due to floods 
followed by severe droughts.

But the reason underlying the bad food supply can be found in an overall 
economic crisis. This crisis is partly caused by the fact that after the 
breakdown of the communist countries in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, 
they changed the barter system of oil for other natural resources and began 
to demand payment in Dollars. It can be said, that now even in North Korea 
"the Dollar rules". The permanent lack of energy has caused a breakdown of 
much of the industries and even of the infrastructures. The per capita 
income has decreased during the nineties from US$991 to a mere US$475. Even 
today, years after the flooding and the drought, 6.5 million of the 23 
million North Koreans are dependent on food supply from abroad. Not only is 
there a lack of food, but of medicines as well. The most affected are the 
children. The death rate of children has increased. Some even estimate a 
death rate of 5%.

Because of the famine, North Korea has at least partly opened to 
humanitarian aid from abroad. Although some of the agencies have withdrawn 
because of the restrictions, many of them remain in the country. The reason 
they give is: "The right to live is the most basic of the human rights." Or 
to put it another way, "Human life is more important than human rights".

Erich Weingartner, who lived in North Korea for more than two years working 
as a coordinator of the humanitarian aid of churches and other NGOs makes a 
similar statement. At an international conference that was attended by 
representatives of the churches of both North and South Korea in Germany in 
2004, he gave a lecture about: "The role of NGOs between cooperation and 
confrontation". Asked about human rights during the discussion, he replied 
that between silence and accusation there is another way: to improve the 
life conditions of the people as a whole and in every respect, "because not 
only the right of individuals to live in freedom, but the right to have ones 
basic needs fulfilled is human right." It can be observed that because of 
the work of the NGOs, North Korea has gradually opened and has been partly 
liberated from its chosen and enforced isolation.

(It should be added here that there has been a change in the North Korean 
Policy. At the end of 2005, some of the foreign aid organizations had to 
leave the country. In a way, this is also proof that their presence has 
brought about some change.)

Because of the famine, many North Koreans fled to Northern China. Some 
estimate that up to 300,000 North Koreans have been living in Northern 
China, but the overall number seems to have decreased to a number between 
10,000 to 30,000. According to a survey of the Ministry of Unification in 
South Korea, 55% left North Korea because of poverty, only 9% left because 
of dissatisfaction with the political system. Others fled out of fear from 
punishment, or in order to join family members who had left the country 
earlier.

In the beginning it was not too difficult for them to live among the 2 
million Chinese of Korean origin, who also speak the Korean language. An 
unsolved problem, however, is that they are not accepted as refugees by the 
Chinese government, which does not allow the UNHCR to work with them. 
Because of their illegal status, they are prone to abuse and even sexual 
exploitation.

There have been many reports regarding the intrusion of refugees into 
foreign embassies or schools in Beijing. But differences of opinion exist 
regarding the consequences of these actions. Some look at it as an important 
means to create awareness about the situation of refugees, and to denounce 
human rights violations. Others emphasize that it is because of theses 
actions that the Chinese government started to crack down on refugees, 
increasing the number of those sent back to North Korea.

Contradictory reports circulate about the fate of those who are sent back. 
Some claim that all of them are imprisoned in camps for years. In my 
interviews with refugees and those who help them, I found out that some of 
them fled several times. Having been sent back and taken into custody, they 
were released after a short time. It is of course a problem that the basic 
right to move around freely is not respected in North Korea.

The number of reports about human rights violations in North Korea gives 
reason for concern. On the other hand, many of these reports are 
contradictory. The alleged existence of camps, public executions, medical 
tests with prisoners, enforced abortions, and torture is often reported. One 
result of these allegations has been a resolution on North Korea at the UN 
Human Rights Commission in 2003. In 2004, a special envoy was appointed, who 
gave his first official report in 2005. In his report, he strongly urges the 
DPRK to fulfill all the obligations as signatory of four Human Rights 
Conventions (the International Convention on Political and Civil Rights; the 
International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Convention 
on the Rights of Children; Convention to Abolish Discrimination Against 
Women).

Regarding individual civil rights and liberties, it is important to 
acknowledge that North Korea is not a democracy in the Western way. 
According to the DPRK constitution, the freedom of speech and assembly (§ 
67) and the freedom of religion (§ 68) are safeguarded. But they are in fact 
limited. The collective is more important than the individual. Since even 
today Confucian thinking is important in North Korea as an undercurrent, 
this has a cultural dimension, not merely a political one.

But there is another important aspect that has to be taken in consideration 
in all discussions about human rights. Up to the present, there is only an 
armistice and no peace treaty. Visiting North Korea twice, I found that 
people there feel threatened by the presence of American troops in the 
south, whether this is rational or not. Similar to the situation in the 
south during a long time in recent history, national security is more 
important to them than the question of individual human rights.

The real question therefore ought to be how the situation can be improved. 
In October 2004, US President G.W. Bush signed the so-called "North Korea 
Human Rights Act". It is foreseen that groups promoting Democracy in North 
Korea are receiving financial means. There has been a lot of criticism of 
this new law, not only in North Korea, but also in South Korea, and to a 
lesser extent in China. There are enough reasons to suppose that the 
intention of this act is the promotion of a change of the system in North 
Korea. The question of Human Rights would thereby be politically 
instrumentalized. Left open is the question what the result of such a system 
change would be. In South Korea as well as in China, people are afraid of a 
massive influx of refugees, which will cause problems that cannot be easily 
solved.

Those who criticize this act are hoping that instead of a change in the 
system, a gradual change within the system can be achieved. They hope that 
through cooperation, North Korean society will open up and the situation of 
the people will improve in each and every respect. Necessary to achieve this 
goal are trust building measures, a Treaty of Nonaggression with the USA, 
and the signing of a peace treaty. Only in this way it can be guaranteed 
that the question of security no longer dominates the question of human 
rights.
*************************************************

QUIDNUNC
In this section of CanKor, we invite readers to send questions, answers, or 
responses. Answers should be under 150 words and may be edited for space.

*************************************************
HOW MANY PEOPLE IN NORTH KOREA HAVE UNFETTERED ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 
THE WORLD OUTSIDE THE DPRK?
*************************************************

In addition to Erich Weingartner's two categories of North Koreans with some 
access to outside information (i.e. contact with China in border areas and 
civil servants in some government jobs), I would add a third: the 
considerable number of DPR Koreans who travel abroad on delegations or to 
attend conferences, training courses and other educational pursuits.

Victor Hsu, DPRK Country Director, World Vision International
*************************************************

WHAT NOW?
How many NGOs continue to remain resident in the DPRK? Which ones?

[Answers should be e-mailed to: editor at CanKor.ca]
*************************************************

End CanKor # 247

*************************************************
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