Extra! Media is missing a potential story in the making!
Yet more evidence for the "North Korea is getting unstable" theory.
Last year, 1,141 North Koreans defected to South Korea, most of them through China. The number was a sharp increase from the 583 in 2001, up from the 312 in 2000 and 148 in 1999.
I'm getting increasingly suspicious about this, especially right after I found out about the new chinese program mentioned in my previous post. Just how stable is North Korea?

Here is an interesting story I found on Google that sheds some new light on the Bush North Korean Policy:
Chinese Policemen rounded up 58 refugees from North Korea
Chinese police have rounded up 58 North Koreans preparing to make what would have been an unprecedented and daring mass escape to freedom in South Korea and Japan, international refugee activists said on Monday.
Fascinating stuff, but in another article, I found this little statistic:
China, the statement said, launched a massive manhunt for North Korean hideouts in early December and deported thousands to their homeland.
As of mid-January, 3,200 North Korean civilians in China were "repatriated as a result of this so-called 100-day campaign," the group said.
Its statement said 1,300 others were awaiting deportation in detention centers in Tumen and Longjing, along the border with North Korea.
Now why is China launching a "massive manhunt" for these North Korean refugees at this moment?
Because there are a lot more refugees in the past few months than there have been in quite some time. Why would there be more refugees? My guess is that the regime in North Korea might be less stable than people think. I mean, if this increased refugee rate is resulting after only a couple a months of the "no aid" policy of the U.S., what is going to happen in six?