Joshua over at The Korea Liberator completely rips apart this NYTimes piece by Onishi, which I commented on here. I could hear the tears from my corner of the world

Onishi made not the slightest reference to the work of Christian missionaries in shielding NKorean refugees in China, to their efforts in getting them through China into Mongolia or Vietnam or Thailand or Hong Kong or into some foreign embassy…..He said nothing about the efforts of such Christian missionaries as Tim Peters, well known here, and Douglas Shin…..He deliberately overlooked historic Christian role as defenders of human rights going back to March 1, 1919, revolution, in which Christians played a major role against Japan. He “forgot” the point is not the shift of Christian thinking from leftist human rights campaigns in NKorea to conservative pressure for human rights in Japan — the point is that Christians have been at the forefront in all these struggles. Onishi is an intelligent person. He obviously overlooked all that in order to drive home his own point, his leftist sympathy with North Korea, his support for leftist policies of SKorean govt and his support for radical anti-American demonstrators.

. . . .

One other point that Onishi overlooked — what is now NKorea was focal point of missionary activity in pre-communist days. Pyongyang was known as “city of churches right through the period of Japanese colonialism. And Hungnam and Hangnum were also Christian centers. So it’s logical that Christianity shd be reapparing in highly risky underground settings, by no means all influenced by aid-givers. Many reflect proslytizing by escapees, Korean-Chinese across Tumen and Yalu rivers, etc.

I think I’ve said that the article spoke for Christians in Korea, but at the same time I said I don’t know much in the first place. Yeah, I think the latter is true. Now that I feel like a jackass for taking something from the NYTime (or International Herald Tribune, same owner) at face value, I’ll concede a few points. First, it still stands that I do not want anyone to exaggerate their accounts in North Korea, but since there is no evidence as of yet, there is nothing much I can say about that. Second, when I said I do not know much, it is true, that is why I am blogging, to learn among other things. I do not want to discourage any religious group from doing their duties in North Korea, but it still stands that I want them to be careful with their lives and the lives they look after. I think we can all agree that it is a complicated issue it will take awhile for us the fully understand everything.

Good news

WASHINGTON—The United States is expected to accept up to 200 North Korean asylum-seekers this year despite the unique difficulty of conducting required background probes into refugees from the world’s most tightly closed country, a U.S. source has told RFA’s Korean service.

Under the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act, North Korean nationals may seek U.S. asylum even though South Korea considers North Korean refugees to be South Korean nationals.

The U.S. source, who asked not to be named, said Washington hasn’t yet accepted a single North Korean refugee because of the extensive investigations required by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

North Korean refugees are most likely to seek asylum in the United States by transiting through Southeast Asian countries, the source said, since China—to which thousands of North Koreans have fled in secret—doesn’t allow North Koreans to flee to the United States from inside the country.

U.S. officials expect they could process up to 200 North Korean asylum applications this year, the source said.

Of course, the US government cannot involve itself in smuggling North Korean refugees out of China (unless it’s someone very high profile, then maybe) since it may hurt China’s feelings for “interfering with its internal affairs”. If they were, we will probably would not notice. Embassy runs in Beijing seem to no longer work. So it is probably up to NGO’s to do the smuggling, not quite crossing the US-Mexican border from what I read. I do not think LiNK has the resources to transport refugees out of China (not yet, but it could happen one day). China is notorious for massive number of security checkpoints (not to mention toll roads, it could get expensive traveling across China) . I cannot see how 200 refugees will actually make it out of China in a year, but I wish them luck anyway. It would be one heck of a day if I were to meet them in the States.

Click on the picture for more details on the controversy

Here are all twelve pictures portraying Mohammed shown on the Jyllands-Posten. You are probably wondering why I posted this. After all, these caused a lot of furor in places like Pakistan and Syria. A lot of people are offended by these pictures. There was rioting and death threats caused by these cartoons. I myself am offended by three of these cartoons. To answer your question, I will show today’s NYTimes editorial that pretty much sums up how I feel about the issue.

Silenced by Islamist Rage

With every new riot over the Danish cartoons, it becomes clearer that the protests are no longer about the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, but about the demagoguery of Islamic extremists. The demonstrators are undeniably outraged by what they perceive as blasphemy. But radical Islamists are trying to harness that indignation to their political goals and their theocratic ends by fomenting hatred for the West and for moderate regimes in the Muslim world. These are dangerous games, and they require the most resolute response.

It is not the West that is most threatened in this crisis. The voices of moderation in the Muslim world are the ones that are being intimidated and silenced. Those few journalists and leaders who have spoken out against the rioting have been vilified and assailed, and even jailed. According to a report by Michael Slackman and Hassan M. Fattah in The New York Times, 11 journalists in five Islamic countries face prosecution for printing some of the Danish cartoons, even when their purpose was to condemn them.

In most of these cases, the legal action represents attempts by cowed authorities to appease the Islamists. But the effect — in Yemen, Jordan and other countries — has only been to give extremists a dollop of legitimacy, and to encourage them to turn up the heat. That, in turn, increases the perception of a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West.

It is time for moderate Muslims to abandon the illusion that they can placate the Islamists by straddling the fence. It is they who must explain to their people that the cartoons were an isolated incident, and not the face of hostile crusaders. It is they who must make it clear to their people that blowing up mosques, beheading hostages and strapping on belts of explosives are far, far greater evils than a few drawings in a distant paper. They must do so because their future is at stake — not Denmark’s.

Great editorial, except for one thing. If one were to peruse the archives of the NYTimes, you will not find a single picture displayed above, nor would you find it in other major newspapers. Perhaps only 1% of all published papers in the nation has them. Nor would you find it on television. CNN actually pixelated one. You will not find it in a single college publication except maybe for the most obscure alternative papers. A lot of reasons were offered on why it’s not shown, but only one makes the most sense.

They are afraid.

Nothing wrong for a publication cowed by fear. It just shows they’re willing to stand up against someone who cannot hurt them but stands down when their lives are threatened. Its easy to criticize the US. It’s easy to criticize Denmark. But it takes courage to stand up against the same people that killed Theo Van Gogh, Daniel Pearl, Ilan Halimi, Pim Fortyn, people working in the WTC on 9/11, et cetera (in case you’re wondering who I’m refering to, it is Radical Islamists, not all muslims). What is free speech when no one is offended?

So what does this have to with a website dealing with North Korean human rights? Well, everything. You may get a chuckle if I were to say that North Korean agents are gonna come after me. I don’t think that’s possible. But what if you start criticizing the Chinese? Since most of LiNK field work is done in China, one would assume there will be a lot of heat directed at them. Don’t think Chinese agents may come to America? Maybe not, or maybe…

Journalist with The Epoch Times assaulted in Atlanta : the newspaper accuses Chinese authorities

Reporters Without Borders is concerned about the assault committed on Yuan Li, a journalist with the daily The Epoch Times, at his home in Atlanta on February 8, 2006. The organization is also intrigued by the circumstances under which the attack occurred.

“Would Yuan Li have been beaten and robbed as he was if he had not been a member of The Epoch Times’ editorial staff ? Not if the circumstances surrounding the crime are any indication. In addition, the ties between the daily and the Falun Gong spiritual movement, one of the Beijing regime’s pet peeves, are well known. The involvement of the Chinese authorities in this case – which remains to be proven – would be a sign that dissident journalists are no longer safe, even in exile,” Reporters Without Borders stated.

At about noon on February 8, a stranger rang the front door bell at Yuan Li’s home in a residential area of Atlanta. “He claimed to be there to deliver water, but I had not ordered any. Just as I opened the door to let him in, another man burst into the doorway and broke the door down,” the journalist explained to Reporters Without Borders. The two thugs, one armed with a knife, the other with a revolver, attacked their victim and beat him up. “They tried to suffocate me with a quilt. After that, they hit me and then slashed at my face with a knife,” continued Yuan Li, whose face is covered with at least fifteen cuts.

You may be thinking it is an isolated incident. Okay, fair enough, but think about this. If you have watched Seoul Train and other documentaries on North Korea, you would have seen a lot of footage of inside North Korea. The documentary would probably tell you that these people, carrying hidden cameras, are risking death everytime they return to the North and film starving children and public executions. These people, by definition, are journalists, just like the folks in the NYTimes or the Jyllands-Posten Would you think it is an injustice if a major news station were to refrain from showing North Korean footage “out of respect of North Korea?” Of course, that has not happened in America. But what if the Marxists in your college (and there are plenty) start objecting to a couple of your LiNK events and start throwing your university speech code in your face? Are you going to apologize for showing the truth? Hell no. What if the Politically Correct folks in student government threatens to cut off your chapter’s funding? I hope every chapters tries to be as objective as possible, but there always going to be some people who are going to be offended. I doubt that there are North Koreans in your university, but I can bet if one were to ruffle the feathers of some Mainland Chinese grad students (and it has happened before when discussing Tibet), who knows. I am just listing some possible scenarios, some of them may sound ridiculous, but anything goes in a university environment.

So is there a lesson to this? Of course. If you are being truthful and objective, never think of how others may react. Please assume your fellow students are open minded individuals. If not, stand up to them. There may a day when someone wants to shut you down. When that happens , do not be afraid, be courageous, and the courageous will support you.