South Korea and human rights A shameful policy and nothing to
show for it IT ISN'T easy living next door to hard-faced North
Korea. Even before it took to brandishing its “nuclear
deterrent” at all-comers, South Koreans were living in the
sights of thousands of artillery guns and missiles that could
rain all-too conventional destruction on their cities. In hopes
of better relations, in recent years South Korean governments
have promoted engagement over confrontation with the prickly
North. Demands for “reciprocity”—better behaviour—from North
Korea have also been set aside. Such no-strings engagement has
its costs. Right now it is making life that bit harder for
vulnerable North Koreans hoping to flee political repression at
home and make their way via China and places like Cambodia,
Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Russia to seek asylum in
the South. The NGOs and missionaries working along the Chinese
border with North Korea are used to having no support from the
South Korean government, which perenniall