Monday, July 09, 2007

North Korean refugees a Korean matter

A complaint among some South Koreans today is that their government does more for the North Korean refugees than for many of its own citizens.

One high-ranking official in the Ministry of Unification told me, with typical South Korean optimism, ''These refugees [that we receive from North Korea] serve as a litmus test for how the reunification of the two Koreas is going to work one day. We view their situation not just as a humanitarian matter but as a Korean matter.''

[Excerpt of an article by Michael Paterniti, GQ magazine]

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