North Korean Refugees in China

On February 20, North Korean security agents publicly executed 13 women and 2 men in the town of Juwongu in the county of Onseong in North Hamyung province near the border with China, according to unnamed sources cited in a March 10 North Korea Today report (a newsletter published by Good Friends, a Buddhist NGO based in South Korea). The executions reportedly were carried out on a bridge, as local residents were forced to observe. Local authorities notified all public institutions, enterprises, and neighborhood units that attendance was mandatory and verified attendance on the day of the executions, according to the report.

The Chinese government authorized exit visas in March for seven members of a group of North Korean refugees known as the "Beijing 17," according to a Voice of America report from March 22 (as reported by the Yonhap News Agency, via Open Source Center, subscription required). The seven released refugees traveled to the United States to seek asylum on March 20. They had been living under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beijing for more than a year due to China's refusal to grant them permission to leave the country. The exact circumstances under which their release was won are not known, but it follows on the heels of a March 18 letter from U.S. legislators urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to press China on the issue, according to the report. It is also not understood why Beijing allowed only 7 of the 17 to receive exit visas or how those 7 were chosen.

Guterres reported in his March 23 press release that his agency is "in close contact" with China's State Council, which is currently drafting national refugee regulations. Guterres said that his agency would be "fully engaged in supporting the Chinese authorities to make sure that this legislation is in full compliance with international law." Article 33 of the 1951 Convention, which China acceded to on September 24, 1982, stipulates that states may not expel or force a refugee to return to a place where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman Qin Gang reiterated at a September 19 press conference the Chinese government's longstanding view that North Koreans entering China without documents "are not refugees" but "illegal migrants" who "come to China because of economic reasons," according to a transcript of his remarks (in Chinese) on the MFA Web site. The MFA's English transcript of Qin Gang's regular press conference on September 19 did not include any discussion of North Korean refugees in China.

The Chinese government allowed three North Korean refugees to travel directly from China to the United States in July to seek asylum, according to an August 4 Wall Street Journal report (subscription required). The three refugees entered the U.S. Consulate General in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, in May by scaling a wall that separates the U.S. facility from the South Korean Consulate, according to a May 20 Associated Press report. The Chinese government's action was the first time North Korean refugees have been allowed to travel directly to the United States to seek resettlement or asylum. In the past, North Korean refugees hiding in China who wished to seek resettlement as refugees or asylum in the United States had to travel to a third country to present their cases to U.S. authorities.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korean human rights, has urged all countries, including China, to take a humane approach toward those fleeing from North Korea, according to a February 6 Yonhap article (subscription required). Muntarbhorn told the Yonhap News Agency that the international community should recognize as "refugees" both North Koreans who flee for fear of persecution and those who flee for other reasons, but possess a well-founded fear of persecution upon return. Yonhap noted, "Although [Muntarbhorn] did not single out China for failing to protect the human rights of North Korean defectors, his remarks are expected to put pressure on the country, which is known to regularly round up and repatriate North Korean defectors."

The principal at the South Korean International School in Tianjin turned away nine North Koreans seeking safe passage to South Korea on September 12 after they forced their way into the school, according to a South Korean civic group supporting North Korean refugees in China and reported by Yonhap News. The expulsion is unusual as those North Korean asylum seekers who have managed to enter international schools or foreign embassies in the past have generally been allowed safe passage to South Korea after protracted negotiations with Chinese officials (see here and here). The school principal contends that the group, which included a seven-year-old and a one-year-old child, did not identify themselves as North Koreans or request passage to South Korea.

Chinese security agents disrupted a news conference Wednesday organized by visiting South Korean legislators in Beijing, according to an article in the Washington Post. Four Korean lawmakers called the press conference to urge the Chinese government to cease forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees and to release South Korean activists jailed in China for helping North Korean refugees relocate to South Korea. Though the Chinese Communist Party often prohibits discussion of sensitive topics, it rarely interferes in events sponsored by foreign dignitaries. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the lawmakers “illegal” behavior, emphasizing that only one of the legislators was visiting in an official capacity.