I’ll be sure to discuss when I finish reading it.

In the past decade, up to 100,000 defectors have crossed the waters of the Tumen and Yalu Rivers into northeast China to escape from North Korea, the world’s last closed Communist state. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of a few of them.

Crossing Heaven’s Border reveals the plight of North Korean defectors from the point of view of intrepid South Korean journalists who risk their lives filming undercover for ten months to capture the haunting stories first-hand. The reporters introduce us to a mother working in China as a tour guide to support her six-year-old son who is sick with cerebral palsy and in dire need of medical attention. And we follow the grueling ten-day journey of a teenage girl and a little boy smuggled overland across China and Laos into Thailand, where North Korean defectors can request asylum at the South Korean embassy.

It is on PBS on 10PM EST. Don’t miss it.

…

The key with the Chinese will be working, on the one hand, to reassure them that they would not be stuck with a permanent refugee population and, on the other, to remind them, as a signatory to the U.N. refugee protocol, that China needs to comply with its provisions, including allowing access for the UNHCR. Starting slowly, with smaller numbers, could also help. Even relatively modest levels, for example 25,000 per year, could permit resettlement of a quarter of a million refugees over a 10-year period.

Resistance to refugee resettlement is not something new. Despite the much more obvious U.S. responsibility for the Indochinese refugees, it took heroic efforts by outside pressure groups, committed members of Congress, and strong advocates inside the executive branch, particularly then Ambassador to Thailand Mort Abramowitz and then Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Today, Sens. Sam Brownback and Dianne Feinstein, Reps. Ed Royce and Gary Ackerman, and some other members of Congress have been pressing the issue. But they need help.

Presidents Obama and Lee could accomplish a great humanitarian objective if they were to agree jointly to take leadership along the following lines:

- Proceed with as little fanfare as possible, emphasizing that this is a purely humanitarian effort, not an effort to embarrass North Korea much less to destabilize it.

- Start modestly, committing their two countries to a gradual, steady increase in refugee admissions. This will make it easier to manage the flow of refugees and the challenges of resettlement.

- Enlist as many other countries as possible in the effort, since there is strength and safety in numbers. Some of the countries that welcomed earlier Asian immigrants, such as Australia and Canada, might do so again. In addition, there are other countries with ethnic Korean populations, particularly in Central Asia, which might absorb some North Koreans, particularly if the resettlement costs were borne by the international community.

- Enlist the strong Korean-American community to assist with resettlement in this country on a volunteer basis.

When I first got here, I cried so much. Now, I cry less. I try very hard to think about positive things, but sometimes it is hard too. Some days I get to go outside and get some fresh air. In the early evening, I do some stretching. I also sit and meditate. I breathe deeply and think about positive things that have happened in the day. For example, I think “I’m lucky I made it through another day.” I’m lucky my family is working so hard to get me released. I’m thinking about you all constantly and how fortunate I am to have an amazing family. Stay strong and please take care of yourselves. That is my request. Know that I’m thinking of you and dreaming about being reunited with you all again.

Your public servants at State and Treasury are sitting on their hands. Make them take action. There are candlelight vigils throughout the country on June 3 (Via. OFK).

I personally prefer a vigorous protest, but I might attend the one in NYC.

I think we can do better.

The South Korean government says it will take tougher action against its own citizens who commit crimes in the process of assisting North Korean defectors in other countries. Allegations of rape by one young girl waiting to come to South Korea highlight the vulnerability many North Koreans face during their illegal journey through China.

South Korean lawmaker Park Sun-young paints a dire portrait of a 16-year-old female North Korean defector she met recently in a Southeast Asian country. She says the young girl is so traumatized, she has bitten away all of her fingernails, exposing raw flesh beneath. When she starts to talk, says Park, the girl begins to shiver and cry.

The girl Park is describing is one of tens of thousands of North Koreans who have crossed into China to flee hunger, deprivation, and political repression at home. Because China, an ally of the North, does not recognize them as refugees, the defectors endure a harrowing period of hiding out from police as they travel to a Southeast Asian country where they can seek asylum.

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) — The European Union (EU) and an international group of journalists forged a deal on Tuesday to provide 400 million won (US$290,000) to help anti-Pyongyang radio broadcasting stations run mostly by defectors from North Korea.

The EU and the Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) signed the deal with three stations — Free North Korea Radio, Open Radio for Korea and Radio Free Chosun — in Seoul to fund their programs for the next three years.

The stations have been producing and sending shortwave anti-communism and human rights radio broadcasts across the border. In the past, North Korea has asked South Korea to suspend the stations, calling them an obstacle to unification.

“In South Korea, there is a need for much support,” RSF spokesman Vincent Brossel said, citing that Seoul’s 2009 budget earmarked for promoting North Korean human rights stood at 190 million won.

Battling for the minds of North Koreans is as important as any hard power deterrent. Even a station that broadcast apolitical content like music can have a huge impact on ordinary North Koreans.

People say knowledge is power. In a totalitarian regime, all knowledge is power.

Whatever the circumstances, these two are lucky to be Americans. If a North Korean is caught moving in and out of the country, then their fate is either detainment in a concentration camp or death for repeat offenders. Whether you have sympathy for these journalists or not, remember their work was to interview North Korea refugees risking their lives to escape the country.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Two American journalists were missing Friday after they reportedly were detained by North Korea for ignoring warnings to stop shooting footage of the reclusive country.

Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s online media outlet Current TV, were seized Tuesday along the Chinese-North Korean border, according to news reports and an activist who had worked with them. Their Chinese guide also was detained although a third journalist with the group, Mitch Koss, apparently eluded capture.

U.S. officials expressed concern to North Korean officials about the reported detentions and said they were working with the Chinese government to ascertain the whereabouts of the Americans.

“When you have two American citizens who are being held against their will, we want to find out all the facts and gain their release,” State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said Thursday in Washington.

U.S. officials also were in contact with Swedish diplomats in North Korea. Sweden’s Ambassador to Pyongyang, Mats Foyer, refused to say in an e-mail whether negotiations for the Americans’ release were under way but acknowledged that Sweden acts as Washington’s representative because the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Calls to North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York went unanswered Thursday.

My guess is that the North Korean border guards figured they could gain ransom money from grabbing them. While this seemed like a crime of opportunity, that could change if the North Korean regime gets wind of it.

So why didn’t the Chinese border guards do anything? My guess is that because of the nature of their work (interviewing North Korean refugees), the journalists were actively avoiding authority. It’s very likely when it happened there was no one around.

I hope they are released soon. Hopefully, this is a test that Pres. Obama and Sec. Clinton. will pass.