Nov. 2
NLL Nonsense Means
Nothing at Home
Daily NK. 11/2/12 By
Park Seong Guk and Kim Da Seul
“There has been never
been a North-South agreement of any kind concerning the NLL,” Rodong
Shinmun thundered on the morning of the 2nd. “The NLL was drawn
unilaterally by the U.S. imperialists, and as such has never been agreed
with us. It is recognized by no one.”
North Korea has
violated the NLL a total of nine times in the last two months, acts that almost
all South Korean experts see as attempting to highlight the perceived
illegality of the NLL in advance of the South Korean presidential election on
December 19th.
With the exception of
fishermen waiting for the crabbing season, most North Korean people do not
even know what the NLL is. People living day-to-day have no time to focus
on the issue anyway, and the North Korean authorities prefer to ignore it,
teaching instead about the aggressive nature of South Korea whenever there is a
clash in the region.
Kim, an anonymous
defector hailing from Hyesan in Yangkang Province explained, “People who work
on the NLL issue know what is going on, but ordinary people don’t have much of
an idea. Even people who do know about it don’t think to themselves that ‘those
South Koreans have gone and lived there but it is ours and we ought to take it
back’.”
The people living in
Haeju and the surrounding counties of Ongjin, Kangryeong and Kwail district do
at least know about the existence of the NLL, but none of them thinks it is
illegal. Fishermen cannot even think of crossing it unless ordered to, because
they are kept from it by DPRK Navy patrol vessels.
Choi, a defector who
previously served with the DPRK Navy near the NLL agreed, saying, “The
fishermen who violated the NLL recently were clearly ordered to do so. Those
fishing boats should be seen as disguised naval vessels.”
Before a fisherman can
be issued a license to fish he must receive education in which he is specifically
warned not to defect and only to fish in approved areas. Before setting sail
each vessel’s captain is told where to go and fish. As Choi said, the NLL is
also guarded by patrol boats, making it highly unlikely that one vessel would
cross it accidentally, much less multiple vessels on multiple occasions.
Park, a defector from
close to the NLL in Haeju said, “If I was out fishing and I got near Yeonpyeong
Island, the navy patrol boat would warn me not to proceed. If I had crossed the
line then it could have been seen as an attempt to defect. For 60 years North
Korean fishermen have been living that way, with the NLL acting as a line that
can’t be crossed until unification.”
Park continued, “North
Korean fishermen do not want inter-Korean military conflict or any heightened
tension near the NLL because that could stop them fishing, so they actually
really want it to be maintained.”
Simply, North
Korean cadres recognize the NLL in its present form, but pursue conflict
surrounding it for political reasons. One defector, Choi, explained, “I
once spoke to a senior cadre about the NLL, and he said they do acknowledge the
NLL as a real maritime military demarcation line. The only time they say they
cannot accept it is in propaganda targeting the South.”
“They need to make a
fuss about the NLL to flatter their superiors or Kim Jong Eun,” Choi added.
“Even when Kim Jong Il was still alive, commanders would complain that
soldiers’ lives were being wasted whenever orders to cross the NLL were
received.”
NK signs air service
deal with UAE
The Korea Times.
11/2/12
North Korea has signed
an air service deal with the United Arab Emirates in an apparent attempt to provide
cheaper transportation means for its overseas workers, an informed source
said Friday, though the prospect of launching regular flights between the two
nations remains unclear.
The UAE's national
aviation authority and its North Korean counterpart signed a provisional air
service agreement on Oct. 15, an airline company official based in Dubai told
Yonhap News, asking for anonymity.
The deal must be
ratified to enter into force.
Saif Al Suwaidi, the
director general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed the
signing over the phone, but declined to comment further.
Although the agreement
does not limit the number of flights, it is unlikely that major airlines of the
two countries will operate regular flights as soon as the deal goes into
effect, considering that few North Koreans are allowed to travel outside their
communist homeland, the airline company official said.
North Korea has
concluded aviation agreements with 30 nations in the Middle East, Asia and
Africa since the 1970s.
The North's
state-owned airline, Air Koryo, has 13 offices in seven nations, including
China, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Canada, Germany and Malaysia, according to
Wikipedia. Access to Air Koryo's Web site was not available for an unspecified
reason.
The official said the
North may have signed the deal aiming for providing cheaper transportation
means for its overseas workers in Middle East by signing the deal with the UAE,
the transportation and business hub in the Middle East.
Tens of thousands of
North Korean are believed to be working overseas under tight monitoring by
North Korean officials, in a bid to earn much needed hard currency for the
state that has been heavily sanctioned for its nuclear program. (Yonhap)
Oct 31
The South Korean
Refugee Act
by Stephan Haggard | October 31st, 2012
We missed an
interesting legal development in South Korea earlier this year: the passage of
a Refugee Act (Law No. 11298, signed by President LMB on February 10, entering
into force 1 July 2013).
South Korea joined the
Refugee Convention in 1992, shortly after entering the UN in 1991.The passing
of the Refugee Act is a response to the absence of an adequate legal framework
to deal with refugees, which were covered under existing immigration law. The
law establishes the procedures governing the application for refugee status,
the rights of refugees while being processed, and the procedure within the
Ministry of Justice for determining refugee status, including appeals. The Act
also outlines the social benefits available to refugees, including social
security, social assistance, education and social integration programs.
According to sources in South Korea, the new law has been criticized from
several sides (lax processing procedures, narrow definition of refugee status,
lack of specific protections).
The Act makes no
reference to North Korean defectors, which are covered under separate
legislation (the Act on the Protection and Settlement Support of Residents
Escaping from North Korea). As
we noted in an earlier post, South Koreans don’t even talk about
North Koreans using the same language as those reserved for refugees from
elsewhere. North Korean refugees go through different procedures and have
benefits which are different from those accorded refugees under the new act.
Once naturalized, they are of course South Korean citizens. While we understand
South Korean sensibilities on this score, it might have been worthwhile for the
new act to be explicit about how North Koreans are covered.
(DO- the Korean
government views North Korean defectors as having (South) Korean nationality
based on article 3 of the constitution)
