Day: July 9, 2008

More on North Korean refugees possibly coming to the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

At the end of June I wrote a post in which I said that the drumbeats had begun to bring North Korean refugees to the United States.  I wondered why they couldn’t just go to South Korea—they are all Koreans afterall!  A reader named simply  “R” told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.   That is o.k.  I admit I don’t know everything.  It is not my job to be an expert on every refugee “crisis” in the world.   I see my job as bringing information, even incomplete information, to the average citizen who has a right to know what government bureaucrats and elitist NGO types are doing.

My blood is boiling because this touches on my driving force.  I get furious at those oh-so-smart people who have plans that affect ordinary people (affect refugees too) who keep their secrets (whoever has the information has the power in Washington) because somehow the rest of us are not smart enough to understand what is good for us.  It is that patronizing attitude that makes me want to scream!

I’m getting away from the subject, but I would never have started writing this blog or asking my original questions last year in Hagerstown, MD if I felt we were being told the truth and not being treated like we, regular people, were too stupid to understand the big picture—that someone sharper than we were was planning for what was good for us.  They know they can’t win—promote their plans—if the rest of us are equally informed.

So, I asked “R” to tell us all what was going on, but he/she hasn’t been back.  It’s easy to jump in with a comment about how I’m wrong and then disappear.  Well, if I am wrong then tell us where I am wrong!

Thankfully another reader, Mark, submitted additional comments and sent the following information.  Eventually, “R”, we will put it together.

This is an interesting proposal from writers at the American Enterprise Institute suggesting the US create a kind of underground railroad to freedom for North Koreans through China.   O.K. sounds like a plan as long as the last stop on the line is South Korea.    Apparently South Korea is constitutionally obliged to take North Korean refugees.

Some will worry loudly about international resettlement for tens (never mind hundreds) of thousands of North Korean refugees, but the logistical issues are basically solved in advance: as a matter of national law, South Korea is obliged to welcome them all. Under Articles 2 and 3 of the Republic of Korea’s Constitution, as reaffirmed by the country’s Supreme Court in 1996, every North Korean refugee has the right to resettle in South Korea. Commitments by Washington and other free governments to take in North Korean refugees are desirable and commendable (the United States is already committed to doing so under the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004), but it is natural and fitting that South Korea should be the destination for the overwhelming majority of North Korea’s freedom-seekers.

I don’t agree with the part about us taking Korean “refugees” as “desireable and commendable”, but the concept sounds like a generally good plan assuming we have government people brave enough and tough enough to buck the Chinese.

Apparently there is legislation in Congress involving North Korean Human Rights here.  And, then here is an older post at VDARE (Is America the World’s Kleenex) about this issue indicating that its been around for awhile.

Readers:  Please continue to send us links to your research on the North Korean refugee issue.

Good summary of the Bhutanese situation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have written about the Bhutanese refugees on many many occasions and this article has nothing new.  However, I am posting it because it is a good summary of what the situation is at a time when some of you have Bhutanese refugees coming into your communities.    Also, some of our newest readers may be unfamiliar with the fact that the US will be bringing 60,000 refugees from camps in Nepal over the next few years.

According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal, seven western governments — the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark — have offered to resettle nearly 90 thousand refugees.

The United States said it was ready to pick up 60,000 initially, followed by as many as wishing, in the next five years.

That last sentence is a little confusing because our Presidential determination for FY 2008 has set the ceiling for the total number of refugees from around the world at 80,000.  It is extremely unlikely that 60,000 would come from one country alone.

Please read the article because you should know that some Bhutanese do not want to be sent to another country and it has caused conflicts in the camps and splits in families as well.

Map shows why immigrants and refugees are on the move

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a link to a map at The Economist that a friend of Judy’s sent today.   It’s a map showing what percentage of citizens’ income is used for food/fuel/drink in most countries of the world, although its purpose is not to show immigration patterns, it is nonetheless instructive.  Of course it’s intuitive that immigrants are flowing to North America, Europe and Australia because of the strong economies in those democratic and capitalist countries.   I hope you find it as interesting as I did—to see economies depicted on a color-coded world map.