The detention of Fumiaki Yamada has come to a fortunate end:
Fumiaki Yamada, head of a Japanese group called The Society To Help Returnees To North Korea was deported from Shanghai soon after his release and arrived at Narita airport Thursday evening....Chinese officials said that they deported Yamada because he was involved in the illegal stay of the North Koreans and, as a result, hampered the Chinese immigration authorities in carrying out their duties.
But a small tragedy, as we can guess what Chinese immigration duties consist of:
The three South Koreans were also released and went to Seoul on Thursday, but the whereabouts of the North Koreans remained unknown, members of Yamada's NGO said.
North Koreans will continue to find themselves helped across the razor-wire border into freedom. But this group? - and they were so close. Someday they'll be in Paradise, I suppose. For now, that's the only reliable deliverance anyone living that nightmare can hope for.