18 Arrive in Seoul

Like I said, floodgates

Eighteen North Koreans who had been staying in Thailand after fleeing their country were scheduled to head to South Korea later Thursday, sources said, marking one of the largest defections of North Koreans to Seoul in over two years. The North Korean escapees were to arrive in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, about 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on an Asiana Airlines flight scheduled to leave Bangkok at 10:30 p.m., an official at the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok said.

It takes about five hours to fly from Bangkok to Seoul.

Sixteen of the group, who are among 175 of their countrymen arrested by Thai immigration authorities, hold travel certificates issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while two others had been aiming to leave Thailand, he said. Thai immigration officials freed the sixteen North Koreans earlier in the day and they were staying at a refugee center operated by nongovernmental organizations, he said, adding that the two other North Koreans were to be released soon.

While media attention can’t buy a change in public opinion, it could save lives. It seems around $160 could help a person too.