Lawyers accuse China of repatriating 100 more North Korean defectors

Nearly 100 more North Korean defectors have been repatriated from China, according to a group of lawyers in Seoul…

Members of the lawyers' association Hanbyun hold a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday. The group said nearly 100 North Korean defectors were repatriated from China between November and December last year. [HANBYUN]

Nearly 100 more North Korean defectors have been repatriated from China, according to a group of lawyers in Seoul.

In a statement Tuesday, Hanbyun — an association of lawyers that raises awareness of human rights violations in the North — said China sent back at least 95 defectors to the North over four different occasions between November and December last year.

The total was in addition to the roughly 600 North Koreans reportedly repatriated from China following the Asian Games from September to October last year.

Repatriated North Korean defectors often face harsh punishments, including imprisonment in labor camps and even execution.

Several lawyers associated with the group hosted a rally and a press conference near the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday to condemn Beijing for the recent repatriations.

Based on reports from several sources, the group said some 30 defectors were sent back from Dandong, China, to Sinuiju, North Korea, on Nov. 20, 2023.

Dandong and Sinuiju are border cities that face each other across the Yalu River.

Another 10 were repatriated to the North Korean border region of Yanggang Province at the end of November, said Hanbyun.

About 20 were sent back to the same region at the end of December, and around 35 were returned to Onsong County, North Hamgyong Province on Dec. 26.

The group also shared details about the repatriation, including how a group of North Korean officials received the defectors after they were sent over the border by Chinese authorities from Dandong on Nov. 20.

“It is extremely deplorable that China, which joined the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and a member of the UN Human Rights Council, continues to violate the principle of non-refoulement,” Hanbyun said in its statement.

“If China does not stop the forced repatriation of defectors to North Korea, the UN should immediately begin the process of revoking China's status as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.”

The lawyers’ group said it made the same demands in a recently written letter to Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea.

The Foreign Ministry in Seoul did not confirm Hanbyun's allegations.

Last year, it verified the repatriation of North Korean defectors following the Asian Games in China.

“We have yet to confirm details regarding the defectors' situation,” said Lim Soo-suk, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. “The South Korean government will continue to engage both bilaterally and multilaterally to prevent North Korean defectors from being forcibly repatriated to North Korea against their free will.”

In his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October last year, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo raised the repatriation issue, sharing the South Korean government’s concerns.

Julie Turner, the U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights, also urged Beijing to stop repatriating North Korean defectors during her visit to Seoul last October.

“We have deep concerns over these reports and very much urge the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and all governments to uphold their commitment under the relevant international treaties,” Turner told reporters in Seoul on Oct. 16 with her South Korean counterpart, Lee Shin-wha.

Seoul is expected to raise the issue in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland, next week.

BY ESTHER CHUNG, PARK HYUN-JU [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]