Olympic Torch Update

As the Olympic torch has progressed around the world, people have come forward to protest the most recent harsh crackdown on Tibetans by the Chinese.

Tibet has been occupied by the Chinese since the 1950s. The occupation has led to the decimation of the Tibetan culture, which is heavily based in Buddhist spirituality, and the relegation of the Tibetan people to second class citizens in their own country.

The torch is now passing through South Korea where people are protesting Chinese policy.

In South Korea, the protests are directed at China over a different and uniquely Korean issue -

Breitbart: N.Korean tries to set himself on fire during Seoul torch run

But in South Korea, China's treatment of North Korean defectors has taken center stage.

Thousands of North Koreans, fleeing lives of hardship in a country that restricts all civil liberties, have escaped across the loosely controlled Chinese border, rather than attempt the heavily fortified frontier with the South. Many live in hiding in China, where if caught, they are deported back home to face imprisonment in life- threatening conditions.