Myanmar refugees find a foothold in North Carolina
For the Myanmar residents of Chapel Hill, hopes of a return home are tempered by fears of continued ethnic tensions
Myanmar: No end in sight for Kachin conflict
Despite reforms elsewhere in the country, Kachin Independence Army troops maintain their tense daily vigil, eyeing off a Myanmar army post across the valley.
Myanmar by-elections a hard sell in Kachin conflict zone
In Kachin State, ‘reform’ remains a distant concept.
All aboard North Korea’s refugee railroad
PHNOM PENH – In late November 2006, after a long, perilous journey from northeast China, a North Korean national crossed the Vietnamese frontier into Cambodia’s northeast Mondulkiri province. The man, identified only as Ly Hai Long in local media reports, was promptly arrested by Cambodian police, who told a reporter from the Cambodia Daily that...
Portrait of a North Korean propagandist turned protest artist
Before fleeing North Korea, Song Byeok was a propaganda artist, creating portraits of ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il. Now he uses his art to criticize the regime from South Korea.
US cables chart China’s rise in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – On December 18, 2009, Cambodian police rounded up 20 ethnic Uighurs from safe houses in the capital Phnom Penh, where they had arrived earlier in the year seeking political asylum. A day later, the group, which included two infants, was driven to the airport in a bus with shades drawn over the...
North Korean artist turns talents on repressive regime
A harrowing story of escape to the South, Song Byeok’s journey took him from propaganda to pop art.
Escaping North Korea
The hundreds of North Koreans escaping into China each year are facing ever tougher border controls. Those caught face imprisonment and torture.
Vietnamese refugees face deportation
MORE than 10 Montagnard asylum seekers will be deported to Vietnam after the government closes a United Nations-administered refugee centre at the end of the month, officials said yesterday, prompting an outcry from local and international rights groups.
Myanmar election offers no comfort for refugees
MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP, THAILAND—IT’S no wonder that Saw Tun Wai has little desire to return to Myanmar, even after upcoming elections that its military rulers describe as a step toward democracy. The wiry 52-year-old teacher fled to Thailand on foot over rugged mountain terrain in 2006, escaping a vicious and largely unseen army campaign...
An unsafe house
Did Beijing’s economic assistance to Cambodia influence Phnom Penh’s deportation of 20 political refugees?
China’s soft power hardens in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – A DAY after Cambodian authorities spirited 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers out of the country on an unmarked charter flight, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping touched down at Siem Reap International Airport. During his three-day visit in late December, the Chinese leader signed an unprecedented US$1.2 billion in economic aid agreements with...
