Coming to America
Three defectors going to US, sends bad apple to South Korea
July 26, 2006 ㅡ BEIJING - Three North Korean defectors left for the United States on Sunday, sources here said Monday. In May, four North Koreans made their way into a South Korean diplomatic mission in Shenyang, a northeastern industrial city. Shortly thereafter, they scaled a wall to enter the adjoining U.S. diplomatic premises and sought asylum in the United States.
Two of the defectors who asked for asylum in the United States are men and the third is a woman. All are in their 20s or 30s, but have not been more precisely identified.
A fourth member of their party, who also asked for U.S. asylum, was rejected by Washington. He was a former employee of a security unit in North Korea that monitors the civilian population and runs political prisons. The source said this man will probably go to South Korea soon.
In another sign of the gradual cooling of relations between Beijing and Pyongyang, the three U.S.-bound defectors will travel there directly from China. In the past, Beijing has demanded that asylum-seekers transit a third country before moving on to their final home. The Philippines has been one common waypoint.
The three reportedly began to consider U.S. asylum after learning that six of their countrymen were admitted to the United States in May.
For over 20 years, these North Koreans are taught that the US is the Great Satan with Imperialistic Tendencies. And yet, given the choice between South Korea and the US, they choose the Great Satan. Is this a breakthrough in the information war?
