Some compelling stats on the increasing number of North Koreans defecting in Thailand courtesy of the Bangkok Post:
Thai authorities have rejected South Korea’s proposal to build a coordination centre to deal with North Koreans illegally entering the country over concerns that it might encourage more inflows of migrants from the communist nation.
South Korea reportedly asked the government early this year to build the centre in Chiang Rai province, a popular entry point for illegal North Korean immigrants into Thailand.
Most of the immigrants have escaped economic hardship in North Korea and travelled to Thailand for temporary refuge in the hope of being able to resettle in third countries, usually South Korea, a source at the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) said.
From October last year until April this year, 899 North Koreans were arrested for illegal entry, said Isoc spokesman Maj Gen Dithaporn Sasamit. The source said South Korea had offered to pay to take care of the illegal migrants. However, the government had turned down the proposal because it had no policy to open a new refugee centre.
The South Korean government has played an important role in helping North Koreans by allowing them to resettle in its country.
Pol Maj Gen Phansak Kasemasanta, deputy chief of the Immigration Bureau, said that North Koreans illegally entering Thailand would be arrested.
After being tried in court, the immigrants would be detained at the Immigration Bureau while awaiting deportation.
The immigrants normally protest at being sent back to North Korea, allowing South Korean officials to step in and help, Pol Maj Gen Phansak said.
He added that instead of building a new centre for the North Korean migrants, South Korea could help improve the present detention centre at the Immigration Bureau.
North Koreans could stay there along with other illegal immigrants from other nations, he said.
According to the Isoc and the Immigration Bureau, North Koreans are normally helped by human trafficking gangs to travel to China.
They are then put on board Chinese cargo boats to Laos before boarding smaller boats or travelling on foot to Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong districts.
"The trips are arranged by gangs made up of North Korean, Chinese and Thai nationals," said Maj Gen Thawip Bunma, a senior Isoc official.
The Isoc and the Immigration Bureau have been tracking down people involved in the human trafficking gangs.
However, Pol Maj Gen Phansak said police still have no evidence to confirm that Thais were involved.North Korean migrants who have been arrested have told officials that they had to pay at least 100,000 baht to the gangs to help arrange their trips to Thailand.
Most of the migrants were willing to turn themselves in to Thai authorities, seeing it as the first step for them to travel on to the third countries they ultimately wish to settle in.
Here’s the table demonstrating the increasing numbers over the past few years. Are the number of defections increasing, or is Thailand cracking down more? Maybe both.
| Year | # of arrested NK defectors |
| 2004 | 46 |
| 2005 | 115 |
| 2006 | 752 |
| 2007 | 1785 |
| 2008 | 1724 |
| 2009 | 1848 |
| 2010 | 2482 |
| 2011 (til April) | 870 |
2010s total is 54 times the 2004 total! What a difference 6 years can make.
In a somewhat related story, the USA’s Office of Immigration Statistics released the number of North Koreans living in the States:
The United States has received 101 North Korean refugees in the past few years under legislation to help improve human rights conditions in the reclusive state, statistics showed Saturday.
The total breaks down to nine for 2006, 22 for 2007, 37 for 2008, 25 for 2009 and eight for 2010, according to figures released Saturday by the Office of Immigration Statistics at the Department of Homeland Security.
…
The North Korean refugees were admitted into the U.S. under the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which calls for the provision of financial aid to help improve North Korea’s human rights and accept North Korean defectors into the U.S.
In 2008, Congress approved the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act for another four years, calling for “activities to support human rights and democracy and freedom of information in North Korea,” as well as “assistance to North Koreans who are outside North Korea,” and 12-hour daily broadcasting to North Korea.
The 201[sic] Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report also showed that 73,293 people were admitted to the U.S. as refugees in 2010.
The leading countries of nationality were Iraq (18,016), Burma (16,693) and Bhutan (12,363).
Would be very interesting to here some of their stories of the circumstances that brought them to US soil.
Source: Korea JoongAng Daily / Bangkok Post (via North Korean Economy Watch [2])
1 comment
Gerard
May 10, 2011 at (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You ask, “Are the number of defections increasing, or is Thailand cracking down more? Maybe both.”
I think perhaps you answered your own question with this point: “Most of the migrants were willing to turn themselves in to Thai authorities, seeing it as the first step for them to travel on to the third countries they ultimately wish to settle in”.
If you accept that North Korean refugees have always been willing to hand themselves over as a part of the process of getting to South Korea, then it only really leaves the possibility that the number of defections really has grown by the figures you present.
Incidentally, I find it poor that Thailand sticks fervently to their policy of jailing NK defectors before sending them on their way, purely because it is a pointless deterrent. What sort of defector would find the prospect of a Thai jail worse than what they would face at home? If there are any at all, certainly not enough to make it worth the burden on Thailand’s judicial system, and not enough to justify such further cruel imposition on genuine humanitarian refugees.