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Date : December 1, 2015
South Korea Says Its Working to Halt Refugees Return to North
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/world/asia/north-korea-china-defecto [1444]
   https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/21/china-dont-return-nine-north-korea [880]

The office of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea said that her government was trying to secure the freedom of nine North Koreans who were in danger of being sent back from China to North Korea to face harsh punishment for leaving their country.

"Time is running out for these nine refugees, so President Park needs to immediately press China's government to ensure this group is not sent back into harm's way... No one should forget that if this group is handed over, they will likely disappear into a North Korean prison camp characterized by torture, violence and severe deprivation," said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch.

Even though the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern for the North Koreans, the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The North Koreans refugees, including an 11-month-old baby, who were transferred to China from Vietnam, were detained by the Vietnamese police on October 22 in Mong Cai, according to Human Rights Watch.

The group left Northeastern China on October 16 and traveled to Vietnam. Vietnamese police apprehended them on October 22, during a random check on a bus in Mong Cai. Family members learned that on October 24, the Vietnamese authorities handed the group over to Chinese police in Dongxing, in China's southern Guangxi province.

Many North Koreans who have reached the South have testified that those sent back to North Korea from China have been subjected to severe punishment, including torture and incarceration in labor camps.

Source: Human Right Watch; The New York Times


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