Since the 1990s, North Korea has faced several significant economic crises, as well as famine, that has significantly affected its inhabitants. Furthermore, despite the nation’s ability to maintain stability within the regime, North Korea’s economic and political climate has not improved since its initial downfall in the 1990s. This situation has caused several of its citizens to seek refuge in neighboring and other foreign states. More specifically, while many natives remain in North Korea, a significant amount of others have sought refuge in other countries, most predominately China. However, continuing in the year 2014, strict restrictions on the North Korean border with China has further compacted North Korean’s …show more content…
More specifically, common descriptions of refugeehood are rooted in a person fearing persecution. For example, first, the traditional conception found in international instruments, municipal statutes, and various treaties classifies a refugee as a person who has fled their country due to tangible fear of persecution by its native country (Shacknove, 1985, p. 274). Second, the UN Convention’s legal definition of refugeehood expands on the aforesaid characterization to add that (1) the person’s tangible fear of persecution is as a result of race, religion, nationality, etc., (2) the person is no longer within its native country’s borders, and (3) protection of the person’s native country is not available to that person (Shacknove, 1985, p. 275). Additionally, Shacknove (1985) provides four notions that the aforesaid description and legal definition of refugeehood rest on, to wit: a state and its citizens share a bond of trust, loyalty, protection, and assistance; when a person seeks refugee, it is as a result of that broken bond; a broken bond is demonstrated persecution and alienage directed toward the citizen by the state; and finally, said demonstrations are deemed necessary, in addition to sufficient, conditions for refugeehood (p. …show more content…
Based upon the issues concerning classification of refugeehood and the circumstances in which people seek refuge, the states and various global organizations have been partaking in extensive and continuing deliberations with regard to international policy issues concerning refugees and similar populations. Topics within said deliberations include areas relating to establishing legal protections, providing humanitarian aid, handling combatants, influx of populations from neighboring countries as a result of conflicts, and non-refoulement (Stanton Russell,