My Sept. 20 interview on “Within the Frame.” Many thanks to anchor Kim Bo-kyoung for her questions:
My Sept. 21 comments on President Yoon’s visit to the UN in New York on “New Day,” broadcast Sept. 25. Many thanks to Presidential Office correspondent Oh Sooyoung for her questions:
Photo at top: Kim Jong Un with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, visits an airport to see military aircraft near Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, on Sept. 16, 2023.
I was interviewed Wednesday on Arirang News’ “Within the Frame” public affairs newscast, along with Dr. Go Myong-hyun of The Asan Institute, to discuss North Korea’s second failed satellite launch and its apparent re-opening of its borders. Many thanks to host Kim Bo-kyoung for her questions.
In retrospect, when asked if North Korean defectors caught in China may soon be forcibly repatriated (which has not happened since early 2020 due to the North’s pandemic border closures), and if there was a way to prevent that from happening, I should not have assumed all viewers were familiar with this issue.
Although repatriating North Korean escapees to China back to the North has been a long-standing Chinese policy, I should have clearly deplored it, and emphasized that unfortunately even United Nations human rights agencies have long been unable to persuade China to change its policy. I hinted this is part of a larger bargain between China and North Korea. But this policy is no less a human rights issue than China’s harsh treatment of its own citizens in Xinjiang.
Only far stronger international pressure might influence China to change its policy on repatriating North Korean escapees, especially hitting China where it hurts — e.g., sanctioning major Chinese banks that assist North Korea in circumventing existing United Nations sanctions. China’s violations of international law regarding North Korean refugees should be linked to rigorous enforcement of sanctions on China.
Here is my full interview:
Photo at top: North Korean defectors rush into the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, China, in May 2002
Mark P. Barry's Blog 