Mercy Is Not Something Shown To Caught Defectors Of North Korea

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North Korea has executed 15 of its citizens as they tried to defect crossing the Tumen River earlier this week according to Seoul’s Good Friends Center for Peace, Human Rights and Refugees. The group was headed to China when troops fired to kill.

Tens of thousands of refugees are now in China hoping for a slightly better life across the border. Seoul’s Good Friends Center for Peace, Human Rights and Refugee’s report highlights the deadly message North Korea is sending to those who want to escape the regime.

Food is scarce in North Korea and the thought of life without hunger sometimes prods those to defect their homeland. Pyongyang shows no mercy on those who are caught in this endeavor. Although not all are killed on sight, some are sent to linger in the prison system that has been called horrific.

Some believe that the recent stepping up of executions is China. China, with the upcoming games at Beijing may be pressuring the communistic North Koreans to stem the flow of refugees.

“Beijing wanted to nip in the bud, before the Olympics, any chance that the number of refugees would turn into a flood this year,” says one diplomat who has followed the issue. “They’ve really tried to crack down on the border.”

Those who do make it across the border are classified as “economic migrants” and have no rights under international law to enter China illegally. International human rights groups have urged China who signed on to the United Nation’s protocol on refugees to offer safe harbor for those risking their lives.

The situation in North Korea is not likely to improve. No longer can money be used to bribe North Korean border guards to allow for safe passage.

“It appears the North Koreans have increased salaries on the border, or put more senior guards there, over the past year or so, because things are more difficult now,” says a Christian activist working under cover in China.

With the use of public executions the North Koreans are showing their citizens that mercy is not in place. Freedom is getting even harder to obtain.

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