E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Seoul Closing Door on Mass Defections
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young declared Tuesday that Seoul will stop allowing large groups of North Korean defectors to enter South Korea, saying that government has no desire to undermine the communist country's leadership. ``The North's perception that we are trying to shake the Pyongyang regime by bringing defectors to Seoul is quite different from our policy,'' Chung said during an MBC radio interview. ``We disapprove of the mass defections. There will be no more large-scale arrivals of defectors in Seoul.''
"We got ours; screw 'em."
The remarks drew condemnation from civic groups involved in helping North Koreans flee their communist homeland. Chung's statement came in the wake of the ministry's announcement late last month of measures to tighten the screening of defectors seeking asylum at South Korea's foreign missions. The government also strengthened the monitoring of brokers _ activists who guide defectors in return for commission _ and reduced settlement subsidies for North Koreans arriving in the South. ``We consider the policy of competing with Pyongyang for supremacy between our social systems has already been made redundant,'' Chung said.

North Korea has repeatedly accused Seoul of kidnapping defectors in a bid to destabilize the Pyongyang government. It boycotted scheduled inter-Korean meetings following the airlifting of 468 North Koreans to Seoul from an unidentified Southeast Asian nation in July — the largest mass defection to the South yet. Human rights activists said the government is now seeking to appease Pyongyang by reducing the inflow of defectors. ``This is a really bad decision in terms of human rights and saving the lives of North Korean refugees,'' said Kwon Un-kyong, assistant secretary for the Seoul-based Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag.
Posted by: Michael 2005-01-05
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=52961