These are screen shots from the documentary Seoul Train

In the previous photo essay of North Korea refugees taking desperate acts in China to escape the fear of capture and repatriation back to North Korea - where they would likely suffer torture, imprisonment in political concentration camps, and perhaps execution - the 2-year-old Han Mi and her family made it to South Korea. Why?

The video and images of the Chinese guards pulling the mother and grandmother roughly through the gate of the Japanese foreign consulate flew around the world via the international press. It was big news.

Not because the refugees were seeking freedom and faced torture --- but because of the legal technicality ---- the international faux pas -- the fact that once the refugees set foot inside the consulate compound, they were in Japanese jurisdiction --- is what made the fate of Han Mi's family "news worthy".

Below are images of a group of 7 North Korean refugees who tried to do what they Chinese government said was necessary --- they went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to apply for refugee status.

They were arrested and then deported. They made the news, but I guess there were more important stories around at that time, because it wasn't much.

Some or all of these 7 are probably dead by now...
































































Next, after a few weeks cooling in a Chinese holding cell would come - being handed over to North Korean state security police - torture - followed by either execution or placement in a concentration camp where they would be fed starvation rations, worked 12-16 hours a day, tortured, and so on until their bodies gave out - soon or years later....