NK-Mongolia Pact Signed

This may not sound important, but it could portend ill for North Korean refugees in China trying to escape to third countries. Mongolia has long been a favorite destination for refugees, seeing as how it is a democracy with good relations with South Korea.

Now, for the first time since 1988 (when Mongolia was still part of the Soviet bloc), North Korean officials are visiting Mongolia. Given Mongolia's ties to South Korea and the US, it's unlikely that they would cave into any North Korean demands regarding refugee repatriation, but it's still something to keep an eye on.

The two countries signed three protocols on cooperating in the fields of sanitation, labor services and economics, Xinhua said, adding that they had also discussed enhancing their ties in other areas including science and culture. It gave no details.

...

Mongolia, a former Soviet satellite, unusually has diplomatic relations with both energy-starved Communist North Korea and fervidly capitalist South Korea -- technically still at war after the cessation of their civil war in 1953.

Medicine shortages

According to JoongAng Daily, the medical situation in North Korea is so bad that Red Cross officials are willing to take any kind of medicine they can get, even if it's expired. Oftentimes the public health crisis in NK is forgotten next to stories of prison camps and public executions, but it also is something that must be remembered:

The country is extremely vulnerable to epidemics. In October, scarlet fever, which can be treated by taking three pills a day for 10 days, broke out in the North. A significant number of children and the elderly died because they lacked the proper medicine, sources well-informed about the North’s situation said.

Daily NK has part II of its interview series with Shin Dong Hyuk up. (If you missed part I, we linked to it in our previous post.)

Also on Daily NK is a pretty jarring description of a Thai refugee prison. Defectors who make it to Thailand are far less likely to get sent back to North Korea, but Thailand is not a party to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the conditions are thus pretty bad.