"Seoul Train"

Users who are viewing this thread

13 Spider Bloody Chain

Grandmaster Knight
So, during club period in school today (an hour in which people hold meetings for various clubs, societies, etc.) one of the Korean seniors decided to bring in a movie called "Seoul Train", a documentary showing the hardships and realities of North Korean refugees fleeing from N. Korea to China and from there hopefully to Mongolia or South Korea. According to the movie:

China considers people running from North Korea to be "illegal immigrants" based on the idea that, since they ran away from their countries illegally and without official papers, they are NOT refugees. This means that China, under its own laws, is obligated to return these "illegal immigrants" back to North Korea, where they are severly punished, tortured, exucuted, and, for pregnant women, brutally forced to abort their baby.

The UN's Refugee protection officials (they're under a branch called UNCPHR or something, I can't remember the name) have tried to intervene, but since China refuses to let them investigate, they cannot properly prove that these North Korean defectors (people who run away) are legitimately refugees. The movie acusses the UN, however, of not pressuring China enough.

Like the American abolitionists of the 19th century, activists helping North Korean defectors have their own Underground Railroad that assissts refugees in getting from (usually) China to other countries like Mongolia.

The film also showed the escape attempts of several groups/families:

One group was led by a South Korean pastor to the Mongolian border, where they were stopped and arrested. The pastor, a teen from the group and her mother were the only ones to get back to South Korea; the rest were sent to North Korea and presumably executed, or at least imprisoned and tortured.

Another group tried to play China's game and brought immigration papers to the Chinese Foreign Ministry building; they also brought protest banners begging for freedom that were quickly confiscated during their immediate arrest (when the guards were shown the papers, they realized that these people were North Korean defectors and thus captured them). This group of 7 people were called the MoFA 7. They were deported to North Korea and presumably executed.

Yet another group tried to find asylum in the Japanese embassies by concocting a plan in which the two males of the group would shove aside the guards while the two women and the toddler ran inside the consulate, hopefully granting them immunity from Chinese guards. During the heat of the plan, however, the men ran inside without shoving aside the guards, resulting in the women getting beaten/captured and even the child injured somewhat. Most fortunately, however, these people gained enough publicity (they were filmed by various people) so that China was pressured into releasing them to South Korea.

This film was especially painful for me to watch; for all I know, some of the people featured in that film might have been a cousin twice removed, or what have you. The fact that these refugees spoke Korean made their desperate and pained speeches all the more agonizing to listen to.

With this said, I'm curious to know what people on this forum think of the civilian situation in North Korea.
 
My view on North Korea is just that their leader needs removing in whatever way is deemed necessary, the people need to be allowed to choose their own leader, and aid needs to pour in to lift the poor souls out of 1970 and into the modern world and the nuclear weapons need confiscating. But somehow all this needs to be done without military occupation. A very hard nut to crack, but if it was done I think the people of North Korea would hail whoever did it as heroes.
 
We kinda were threatened by the Russians and Chinese, who told us that if we crossed the 48th Parallel they'd give us a whupping.
 
Strange. The U.S and the West I know doesn't cave in to demands. Maybe they only pulled out to show the world that communist countries become weak and oppressive dictatorships.
 
Jaghatai Khan said:
Strange. The U.S and the West I know doesn't cave in to demands. Maybe they only pulled out to show the world that communist countries become weak and oppressive dictatorships.
No, they had taken huge losses holding off the North Koreans, and then the Chinese said that they'd come and help the North Koreans. We would have been mullah'd by the sheer weight of numbers.
 
What they should do is send over Manowar or someone to take over those huge amp stacks that dot the North Korean border. Then we can convert them with the true power of metal.

Or something.
 
I wish I could say that I care, but in all truth I don't. I'm completely ambivalent about what happens to some refugees on the other side of the world, it's just too far removed to even register on my radar-of-what-I-give-a-****-about. I know it sounds bad to say that, but you asked my opinion; I gave it.
 
Doesn't anyone know their history anymore? Look up Korean War, people.... There was a stalemate at the 48th parallel between the U.S. and combined North Korean and Chinese forces. That's why we still have North Korea today.
 
Hræfn said:
I wish I could say that I care, but in all truth I don't. I'm completely ambivalent about what happens to some refugees on the other side of the world, it's just too far removed to even register on my radar-of-what-I-give-a-****-about. I know it sounds bad to say that, but you asked my opinion; I gave it.

And I hold you no animosity to your opinion. I do personally wish you could be more compassionate, but that's merely my own opinion and I bear no ill feelings towards yours.

Wasn't the divison at the 38th Parallel? o_O
 
Yeah numbers always give me trouble, it's somewheres around there anyway.
 
The Korean War For Dummies:

The North Koreans kicked US/British/South Korean ass for a long time at the very beginning of the war. Then huge quantities of reinforcements landed on Korea far behind the front line and the North Koreans had an 'oh ****' molment and ran as fast as they could back to North Korea to defend their homeland. The US and it's allies then drove clear to the Chinese border. North Korea was basicly gone. There was only a tiny sliver of land left near the NW corner of Korea so the Chinese decided to intervene and stop North Korea from becomming a US puppet state. The Chinese completely overwhelmed the US and it's allies and walked to the North/South border. China had no interest politically in taking South Korea. Their purpose was only to defend North Korea. The North Korean Army was basicly gone. They didn't have the ability to do offensive operations on their own anymore and since the Chinese wouldn't cross into South Korea the war stopped. The US and it's allies beat their heads against the Chinese wall for a while and then gave up, signing a cease fire.

Now, as for the 'refugee' thing North Korea is right. They are emmigrating illegally and ANY country in the world would treat them the same if they were found to be crossing borders illegally. These people are breaking a law. North Korea has as much right to make that law as the US has to make it's border laws. Actually, almost all countries have this law and it's China deporting the illegal immigrants just like any country would deport people who entered their country illegaly.

Also, 'presumably executed' is a rather ridiculous statement to make. It's no different from saying that the US if sending back Mexican illegal immigrants to be presumably executed. Putting the 'presumably' before it even admits that you're just making **** up to demonize the North Koreans. There's no reason to beleive that anything happens other than what happens any time anyone is deported.

Look, North Korea is a ****ty place with a ****ty government but just because something's ****ty doesn't mean you have to make up more **** about it. The existing ****, accompanied with an honest and solid argument should be all you need to illustrate why you dislike it.
 
Back
Top Bottom