Female staff at the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok have allegedly verbally abused several North Korean defectors that sought refuge in Thailand.
The South Korean staff “talked down” and swore at the defectors while they were detained in a Thai government facility for illegal entrants into the country, according to South Korean newspaper Donga.
An octogenarian refugee who was a high ranking official in North Korea said he filed a petition with the South Korean ambassador in Thailand in May of last year but it was ignored. He said that a young female staff member said to him, “Hey dude, why are you here?”
Another defector in his 50s said that female staff from the embassy always talk down and swear at North Korean defectors. “In May last year, a female worker shouted abuse at me in front of more than 100 other defectors detained in the same room for disobeying her instruction,” he said.
Bangkok is the final destination of many North Korean defectors who make the dangerous 5,000 mile overland trek through China and Laos to relative safety in Thailand. Once in Bangkok, they are flown to Seoul by the South Korean Embassy and assisted by government and church organizations to make a new life.
