I found the following article in today's Washington Post interesting, and thought you all might too. It is titled "Suspected N.Koreans arrive in Japan on boat" and is available online here. The gist of it is four North Koreans left that country due to it's poor living conditions. Since their arrival in Japan they have requested to be taken to South Korea, presumably for asylum. The family apparently shoved off in their small wooden boat near the Chinese border six days earlier, beginning a journey hundreds of miles long across open water. Among the provisions on board were bottles of poison, likely to be used to commit suicide in the event the four were discovered by North Korean authorities. The incident is expected to further strain relations between North Korea and Japan.
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This story reminded me of the Cubans who occasionally seek refuge here; often also via small rickety boats. The substantial risk involved in the respective journeys is a telling reflection of their level of discontent with the so-called "worker's paradises."
I think it was British PM Margaret Thatcher who told a Soviet diplomat, "We don't need walls to keep our people in."
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