Meanwhile, refugees continue to pour in like tour groups

BANGKOK, Nov. 28 — A group of 50 North Korean defectors who have been in custody of a South Korean religious organization in Thailand have been taken by the Thai police on Tuesday, the organization members said.

The North Korean defectors who have smuggled from China to head for South Korea were now being questioned by the Thai immigration authorities, they said.

A significant number, but pale in comparison to the thousands still stuck in China or elsewhere.

Update: Make that 59 refugees.

The Red Cross signed an agreement to send aid to North Korea

The international Red Cross has signed an “historic” agreement with North Korea to help the impoverished country tackle the impact of famine and natural disaster, officials said yesterday. The three-year agreement was signed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the sidelines of a regional conference in Singapore that ended yesterday.

It is aimed at improving preparedness in the isolated communist nation and bolstering the North Korean Red Cross’s ability to help people vulnerable to disease, hunger and natural calamities. The International Federation said it currently assists around 8.7 million people in five North Korean provinces. Under the agreement, projects such as water, sanitation and first aid will be given additional support in places like Ryonpori, an hour’s drive north of the capital Pyongyang, it said.

Meanwhile, access for aid seems to be improving

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) — North Korea appears to have improved its distribution system for incoming aid and was willing to give broader access to donors, a U.S.-based humanitarian foundation said Sunday after a visit to the country.

A six-member delegation from American business, religious and academic communities visited North Korea on Nov. 4-18 as part of the Eugene Bell Foundation’s program to help tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment.

The foundation “announced U.S. aid and access to the DPR Korea had improved, despite drastic shortfalls in donations to humanitarian programs by the U.N. and other international groups,” it said in a statement.

In this interview, a human rights worker is quoted

DC Choy (phonetic) is a Seoul based human rights volunteer. He’s assisted many North Koreans on their journey to a better life.

DC CHOY: If I’m given the opportunity to speak to the North Korean population inside North Korea, I will tell them not to. I know what a life you are going through now, but it’s not going to be forever, just be more patient, more patient and soon you will have better days.

So is it better to leave or stay? I do not know.

Mongolia, stuck between being a US ally and a good neighbor with China, decides the fate of North Korean refugees

BEIJING: Mongolia said yesterday it would act humanely towards refugees from North Korea, but denied plans to set up camps for those escaping the impoverished communist state under sanctions for a nuclear test.

North Korea may be slipping into famine, triggering a fresh surge of refugees headed towards China, Mongolia and other Asian countries, reports from aid workers and think-tanks have warned.

During his first trip to China as Mongolian prime minister, Miyeegombiin Enkhbold told reporters in Beijing that his country would take refugees, while rejecting media reports that Mongolia would establish refugee camps.

“There are cases (of) some illegal entrants of people into Mongolian territory. Of course in that case we always treat from the humanitarian point of view,” Enkhbold said when asked about North Korean refugees.

“In some news there are rumours that Mongolia is preparing to receive refugees and setting up refugee camps, but this kind of news is groundless.”

Mongolia, an ally of the United States, is seen by North Korean refugees as a stepping stone to South Korea and a safer haven than China, where tens of thousands of North Korean refugees live despite efforts by the Chinese government to keep them out.