Kill them early (Via. ROK Drop)

NEW YORK: North Korea is using public executions to intimidate citizens and has imposed restrictions on long-distance calls to block news of rising food shortages, the UN investigator on human rights in the reclusive nation said yesterday.

Vitit Muntarbhorn also told the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee that North Korea had imposed more severe sanctions on people seeking to leave the country and on those forcibly returned, and still detained “very large numbers” of people in camps. (…)

Mr Muntarbhorn cited the “great disparity” in the access to food by the country’s elite and the rest of the population, non-existent political participation, rigid control over the media and those professing religious beliefs, and the persecution of dissidents.

Mr Muntarbhorn added: “Some inhabitants watch clandestinely video and TV programs from the South, but in 2008 there were reports of crackdowns on South Korean videos.

“From information received, the authorities have imposed restrictions on long-distance telephone calls to block the spreading of news concerning the current food shortage.

“Particularly disconcerting is the use of public executions to intimidate the public,” he said. “This is despite various law reforms in 2004 and 2005, which claim to have improved the criminal law framework and related sanctions.”

Mr Muntarbhorn said persecution of people professing their faith was “pervasive, with families sent to prison for adhering to religious beliefs”.

His remarks to the committee and to reporters coincided with a warning from the head of the UN food agency in North Korea that millions faced a food crisis.

Jean-Pierre de Margerie, the World Food Program’s country director, said some areas in the northeast were facing “a humanitarian emergency” and that about 2.7million people on the west coast would run out of food this month.

I haven’t been posting much. Why? Because of depressing news like this

The Bush administration removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist yesterday, a move that was aimed at salvaging a sputtering nuclear disarmament deal but that sparked internal controversy, infuriated Japan and drew some Republican opposition.

Critics of the accord with a charter member of President Bush’s “axis of evil” said the administration had succumbed to the brinkmanship typical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who two days ago barred inspectors from the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, threatened to resume production of weapons-grade plutonium and appeared to prepare for another nuclear test.

Worst of all, all these concession, which addresses nothing about the human rights issue, may not lead to the end of North Korean nuclear proliferation, especially if North Korea is really carrying out a second nuclear test.

With domestic problems looming here in the states, world issues especially low-profile issues like NK human right will be put in the afterburner.

After 9/11, this action would have been unimaginable, now it garners any interest.

For those of you still fighting for NK human rights, do not give up.

What a difference one election makes

SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea’s president has instructed officials to look into setting up regional refugee camps for the growing number of North Koreans fleeing the Stalinist nation, a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday.

President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who took office in February, has promised not to shy away from criticizing the North and recently asked his Chinese counterpart to cooperate on ensuring that defectors aren’t forced to return to the impoverished nation.

Lee ordered his government to quickly review ideas for setting up refugee camps — at least in Thailand — said an aide for Hong Jung-wook, a lawmaker from the ruling Grand National Party. Hong’s office said it obtained a transcript of Lee’s March directive from the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.

His orders mark a departure from South Korea’s previous two presidents, both liberals, who abstained from publicly raising the issue of North Korean defectors for fear of angering their northern communist neighbor as Seoul sought reconciliation with Pyongyang.

As a key ally of the North, China views North Korean defectors as “economic migrants,” not political refugees, and is obligated to repatriate them as required by a bilateral treaty.

Of course, there is the issue of what country actually wants refugee camps in their country. Places like Sudanese camps in Chad are the result of Chad not having full control of its country. I believe that for these camps to be feasible, it will cost South Korea quite a bit.

In my opinion, it will be worth every penny.