Unification Minister urges China to protect defectors from North

South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho called on China to facilitate the relocation of North Korean defectors to a country of their choice and protect their human rights at a conference held in Washington on Monday (local time).

Ko Young-hwan, special aide to South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho and a former North Korean diplomat, reads Kim's speech at the Korea Global Forum in Washington on Monday (local time). The forum was co-hosted by the ministry and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. [YONHAP]

South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho called on China to facilitate the relocation of North Korean defectors to a country of their choice and protect their human rights at a conference held in Washington on Monday (local time).

“I strongly urge the Chinese government to abide by international norms in protecting North Korean defectors’ human rights and allowing them to travel to the country that they desire,” the minister said in a speech that was read aloud by special aide Ko Young-hwan, a North Korean diplomat-turned-defector, at the Korea Global Forum co-hosted by the Unification Ministry and the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In his speech, the unification minister also asked for “solidarity and cooperation” from the international community in resolving the plight of North Korean refugees in China.

Beijing classifies defectors as economic migrants — not refugees — and subjects them to deportation back to the North. Defectors who successfully escaped have previously testified that refugees handed back to North Korean authorities face torture, long prison terms and other harsh forms of punishment.

According to rights group One Korea Network, China repatriated some 600 North Koreans imprisoned within its territory early last month.

Tae Yong-ho, a defector-turned-lawmaker with the conservative People Power Party, called on Seoul to do more to hold Beijing accountable for its treatment of defectors during a Monday meeting with Korean media correspondents in New York.

“If the international community remains silent about the question of China’s responsibility [toward North Korean defectors], China may continue to act with impunity on the issue,” Tae said.

Kim also reiterated Seoul’s stance that “all defectors” who wish to come to the South are welcome, noting that “no defectors should be forcibly repatriated to North Korea against their free will.”

The repatriation of two North Korean fishermen after they crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in the East Sea in November 2019 emerged as a major political controversy in South Korea last year following allegations that the Moon Jae-in administration in power at the time deported the pair after a brief, five-day investigation into suspicions that they murdered their crewmembers before fleeing.

Officials from the Yoon Suk Yeol administration have accused the Moon administration of currying favor with Pyongyang by repatriating the fishermen.

In February, the Seoul Central District Court approved the indictment of former National Security Director and later Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Suh Hoon, and Moon’s Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, as well as former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, of committing abuses of power under the National Intelligence Act in their handling of the incident.

In his speech, the unification minister said Seoul is committed to achieving Pyongyang’s denuclearization through “dialogue and cooperation,” adding that South Korea does “not desire to alter the status quo by force.”

But Kim also said that the North is exploiting ongoing international tensions to undermine peace.

“The North is strengthening its ties with China and Russia to disrupt international cooperation necessary for its own denuclearization,” he said, arguing that a “strategic environment” had to be created to force the North to return to denuclearization talks.

“If the international community continues to pressure and sanction North Korea with solid, unified and coordinated action, North Korea will have no option but to change,” he said.

U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Julie Turner speaks at the Korea Global Forum on Monday in Washington. [YONHAP]

The unification minister’s call for an improvement in North Korea’s human rights record was echoed by Julie Turner, the U.S. special envoy on the issue, who characterized Pyongyang’s abuses as enabling its security threats.

“DPRK human rights violations and abuses are inextricably linked with the country's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” she said, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Turner noted the example of North Korean workers being forced to work at home and abroad to pay for the North’s illicit weapons programs.

“Forced labor, both domestically and overseas, also plays a key role in sustaining the government and generating the revenue it uses for its weapons program,” she said.

She also noted that the “repressive political climate” in the North, where public dissent to official policies is effectively stifled, allows the regime to dedicate public resources to weapons development.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]