My failed attempt at rescuing a North Korean refugee
First of all, I’d like to preface this with saying that I don’t consider myself a good person. I’m not a social justice crusader, a budding Mother Theresa or anything like that. In fact, before I end up meeting the big guy upstairs, I probably will be spending a lot of time in Dante’s middle level before I make it, if at all. Regardless, sometimes a situation hits me when the mothership calls and I come out blowing seven different kinds of smoke (see You Me & Dupree for a more thorough understanding of the reference).
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I just wanted to share with you what I’ve been trying to do the past couple days or so. I’m not doing this so people say, “Wow, what a good-hearted person,” or anything like that, as I’ve already explained. I’m doing this so possibly people out there can change their view of the world, or at least the privileged one they live in. Maybe most of you won’t get it, but perhaps someone out there will, and if so, my mission from the mothership will be at least partially fulfilled.
Again, this story ends similar to a tragedy, where the situation is exposed as hopeless, where no real culprit emerges, misunderstandings on all sides, and no clear solution can be seen. So here it goes:
For those of you who follow international news, there is something a little more important lately than the Jonbenet Ramsey killer guy happening in Bangkok, at least in my opinion. To make a long story short, a number of North Korean refugees (around 175 people, but difficult to get an exact number) were found at a house in Bangkok and arrested by Thai police for being in Thailand without a visa. 16 of them were found to have departure dates already from Thailand, given by the South Korean embassy in Bangkok. The rest were most likely recent arrivals in Bangkok, and had not yet secured approval from the South Korean government to immigrate there. As a result they went before a Thai judge who fined them 6000 baht (about $160) for being in the country illegally. The catch is, because they were not able to pay the fine, they were sentenced to 30 days in jail instead of the fine.
Up to this point, the story seems like a miscarriage of justice, not in the legal sense, because Thailand has a perfect right to uphold the law of the land and people entering here must be prepared to follow the law. To me, this case seemed more like an economic injustice. Here I was, in a nice air-conditioned 3 story townhouse in Bangkok, while 45 men and 130 women (25 of them children under the age of 15) were sentenced to Thai jail because they could not afford a $160 fine (actually, the 16 that had their UNHCR papers were in an immigration detention center until their plane to South Korea was schedule to leave). I wasn’t sure where my journey would lead me, but somehow I got the inspiration to try to help these people sentenced to jail.
Basically, my journey begins with the UNHCR office in Bangkok, speaking with a nice woman named Kitty McKinsey. I explained to her that I was interested in the case about the North Koreans in Bangkok, and wanted more information about their situation. She clarified for me that 136 were in Thai jail for not paying the fine and 16 had already been issued UNHCR papers to leave the country. I then asked her why the UNHCR couldn’t just give all of these people refugee papers (sorry, not sure of the exact term to describe these travel documents) and they could all leave the country with the other 16. Her response to me was that Thailand has a right to enforce their laws, to which I completely agree. The last thing Thailand wants is to be caught in the middle of this situation, so I assume if the UNHCR granted these papers, they would be treated the same as the other 16, and at least not be in a Thai jail.
On a slight tangent, one thing I’ve noticed about people who work in aid agencies, at least those I’ve met in my almost five years living abroad, is they almost become complacent with the status quo of situations. I completely understand, because these people probably enter these aid organizations completely optimistic, but then see the bureaucracy and political stumbling blocks tear this optimism down real quick. I guess, if there’s any theme whatsoever in this post, it’s probably this.
After this phone conversation, I called Thai police, who then told me to call the Thai Special Branch police, who then directed me to Thai immigration officials.
The Thai immigration official basically told me that nothing could be done, because these people had nowhere to go to, and suggested I contact the South Korean embassy.
Finally I made a call to the South Korean embassy, where they asked me if I was a reporter. I told them I wasn’t, and explained that I just wanted information about how I could pay the fine for one of the North Korean refugees. The woman asked me in a hostile tone, “Why? Do you want them to go back to North Korea?” No, I assured her, I was just interested in them at least getting out of Thai jail, it seemed unfair to me that they were there simply because they couldn’t afford the fine. She told me that this, “wasn’t my concern,” and that this situation was a delicate situation that needed time to resolve. I told her that I wasn’t interested in politics, and I understood that this was a delicate situation. She put me on hold and transferred me to another official at the embassy. This official was also very nice, and again assured me that it was a delicate political situation that needed time to resolve itself. I again assured her that I understood the politics, and wasn’t interested in them. My concern was merely in the comfort of these people. I asked her what would happen if I paid for one of these people to get out of jail, would they be allowed to go to the immigration center instead of the jail? She told me that this wasn’t an issue of money, and she thought that the jail wasn’t such a bad place. (I imagine officials from the SK embassy have been there, so I trusted her judgement on this one) She then assured me that the immigration detention center was probably the same as the jail. (I assumed the real meaning was ‘just as bad’ as the immigration center). Still my thought of the children also being caught up in the jail were a bit disheartening, but at least they were allowed to be with their parents. I also imagined that this probably wasn’t much different than the conditions they were in during their (assumed) long journey from North Korea to Bangkok. I eventually began to understand this embassy representative’s opinion and decided that there was really nothing that could be done in this situation. Processes were in place to help these people, and me meddling in it wouldn’t be of any help. (or would it have been? I guess we’ll never know)
The woman then asked me where I was from, and when I told her America, she said that Americans don’t usually have such a good heart. I told her that some Americans have good hearts, others don’t, and she repeated that no, Americans don’t usually have good hearts. I didn’t really know how to take this comment, but I thanked her for her time and hung up, a bit more complacent in the situation but a bit more understanding as well.
Now that I’m able to reflect more upon everything, I realize that the whole thing seems to be an exercise in futility. I wasted a good 5 hours out of my day dealing with all this bureaucracy, only to end up with these words that I am writing now. Nothing more, Are they worth it? Is anyone even reading this? No one was saved from jail, no one is living a more comfortable lifestyle as a result of my actions, my willingness to pay a mere $160 to help someone. No one will notice.
The danger is in this complacency, and that’s the theme I was touching on earlier. If we let the world beat us down after one futile effort, then complacency wins and everyone will eventually lose. I remember my last day of a SE Asian history class at UCLA, my Professor Geoffrey Robinson told us to never forget that somewhere out there, there were human rights abuses going on as we speak. It is our obligation to help. Not a choice we make, not something we do to make ourselves feel better, but rather an obligation. Perhaps I’m paraphrasing the ‘obligation’ part a bit here, but I believe his intention was to make us never forget that we live in a comfortable bubble, but others outside this bubble are in need of help, and we are obligated to do so. I don’t consider my desire to help these people to be noble at all; Rather, I consider it something I was obligated to do. In fact, it was the least I could do.
In closing, I’d just like to ask that no one become complacent with the world today. There are always ways you can improve the world you live in, and a big factor we all fight is this complacency. It is our duty to understand the world around us, and to understand how it could be better. The good news is, these refugees will almost certainly make it to South Korea, eventually. So, in a sense, this story isn’t a tragedy after all. Or perhaps the real tragedy is the struggle they had to face merely to go to a place where they imagined they could lead a better life. Makes me wonder what my ancestors experienced when they came to America, stories long lost I imagine.
Perhaps one day, we’ll have a world that is perfect and there will be no need to think thoughts like this. But I’m not sure I even subscribe to this optimistic ideology. I’d rather think in terms of the present and what I’ve observed. And I think that we’ll have plenty of social concerns for a long time to come. Thank you for reading and I wish everyone out there freedom from complacency for many years to come.
-david
p.s. I dedicate this post to my younger brother Michael, who has been an inspiration to me in his quest to make the world a better place. Never give up, Mike.