CAMBRIDGE, England -- Now that a little time has gone by, and peoples' attention is distracted by the World Cup, it is time for a little quiet thinking about the implications of the Shenyang incident. This was the incident in which Chinese police forcibly removed five North Koreans from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang.
There are two aspects of the incident that need thinking about. First, there is the humanitarian issue concerning the treatment of the people seeking asylum in the consulate. Second, there is the diplomatic issue concerning the entry of the Chinese guards onto Japanese "territory" in the consulate.
Looking at the humanitarian issue first, we need some background. For several years now, thousands of North Koreans have been fleeing their country for political and economic reasons. Almost all cross the border into China on their way out of North Korea, entering an area inhabited by ethnic Koreans who are sympathetic to their plight. For the most part, their fellow Koreans shelter them. It is generally believed that there are now as many as 300,000 North Korean refugees now living illegally in northeast China.