Seoul Train Reaction

The video "Seoul Train" shocked me. The fact that the Chinese government would deport helpless refugees back to North Korea, back into certain punishment, with the excuse that they are economic immigrants is ludicrous. Just by talking to the refugees, they would find out the oppression and hardships the refugees went through back home and see that they are not escaping into China simply to earn better money. Joel Charny from Refugees International traveled to China to interview North Korean immigrants and this copy of his speech to the Congressional-Executive Commision on China provides more information about the state of North Korean refugees in China. http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/nk-ref-report.pdf
But the part that was the most shocking was the episode of the MoFA Seven. These seven people were not doing anything illegal. In fact, instead of trying to stay in China "illegally" or journey through to Mongolia, Laos or Vietnam they were trying to go through the official channels to attain refugee status. The government could have handled it so much better by simply granting them refugee status. This would encourage more North Koreans to go through the MoFA and reduce deportation of "illegal" immigrants, not only being humanitarian, but also reducing the criticism that the UN and various world governments are heaping on them.