Pressure
I love it when a plan comes together. Read this from Kuwait’s Arab Times:
Washington is trying to convince Beijing to set up camps for North Korean refugees and has offered to help finance them in hopes of applying pressure on Pyongyang, an expert on North Korea said Tuesday. Such a move could create an exodus of North Koreans that, as happened in the former East Germany more than a decade ago, could lead to the collapse of the government, activist Norbert Vollertsen told AFP.
Hungary’s decision to open its border with East Germany, following US pressure, led to a flood of refugees that helped bring down the German government. “(US) State Department people told me this,” Vollertsen said of the proposal. Vollertsen, a German doctor, has helped hundreds of North Korean refugees in China seek asylum at foreign embassies and said he has been in contact with ranking US officials.
If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because you read it here almost four weeks ago.
The Arab Times? I don’t know what’s more sad: that they’re four weeks behind you, or that they’re ahead of the NYT, et al.
I pity da fool that don’t read Vodkapundit.
Vollersten, while his heart is in the right place, is a bit deranged. I’d take it with a large pinch of salt.
I don’t see how China opening up refugee camps to North Koreans would be similar to East Germany opening it’s borders. The flow of ideas and trade itself into East Germany was as important to the collapse of East Germany as was the flow of people. People fleeing NKorea will themselves be leaving, but what will be going back into NKorea? SKorea opening borders with NKorea and allowing the free flow of the populace would be have a much larger affect. Unfortunately it looks like SKorea has been paying off their northern ‘enemies’ to keep such a thing from happening in the first place.
I hope I am wrong, because I think that the situation in NKorea is something that has been ignored for too long at the cost of millions of lives.