By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/dprkhr1japan111909.html
UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- As Japan's Ambassador to the UN Yukio Takasu talked to the Press Thursday about North Korea's nuclear programs, Inner City Press asked if Japan will accept North Korean refugees, not based on a previous tie to Japan but rather on the abuse and dangers they face in their own country.
"They have to follow [our] immigration law," Ambassador Takaku replied. "The Japanese government has to examine it case by case, we can't just say that any North Korean came come."
The issue, however, is what standard Japan applies to asylum seekers. According to Human Rights Watch, Japan give primacy to those who have ties to Japan.
To the contrary, HRW insists, "North Korean refugees who arrive at Japan's borders, embassies or consulates should have their claims for asylum assessed under the provisions of the 1951 Refugees Convention and the 1967 Protocol."
After Inner City Press asked the question, at the Security Council stakeout, Ambassador Takasu said "Japan has a policy of accepting foreigners, first if they want to come to Japan, to pursue a safe and happy life." Then he referred to, without explaining, Japanese immigration law.
On the larger question, of Japan doing more about North Korea than simply nuclear and abduction issues, Takasu pointed to a resolution in the General Assembly's Third Committee, urging other countries to support it. We will have more on this.
