Drops from the flood

Drip, Drip, Drip

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Three North Korean defectors are on their way to the United States.

A South Korean missionary identifies the three as a 36-year-old cancer patient, her husband and their 11-year-old son. He says they were among 29 North Korean refugees who launched a hunger strike at a detention center in Thailand last week to press their demand for asylum in the U.S.

Thousands of North Koreans have made the long and risky journey across China to Southeast Asia in recent years. Many have sought asylum in South Korea. But some have hoped to go to America.

The U.S. began accepting North Koreans under a 2004 law that provides help to those fleeing the communist nation. The Seoul-based missionary group says, including the latest family, 47 refugees have been taken in by the U.S. under that law.

That’s around a dozen refugees a year. People wonder why I do not have faith in government.