A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry says the detained North Koreans are not refugees. He says they crossed the border into China illegally and for economic reasons.

South Korean human-rights activists gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul Monday, where they heard a moving appeal from Soh Kyung-suk, co-chairman of a group called Christian Social Responsibility.

“If you listen to the screams of our North Korean defector brothers, you cannot listen to them without tears welling in your eyes. Therefore, if we stay silent and do nothing while watching them being dragged to the execution ground, we are living inhumane lives.”

 As China is planning to send back the North Korean defectors, Seoul has announced that it will seek global support at the UN meeting next week. AFP adds:

But a spokeswoman said Seoul has repeatedly urged Beijing not to repatriate at least 10 North Koreans arrested in the northeastern city of Shenyang this month.

“Since our bilateral discussion (with China) is not working very well, we will make efforts to get international support via various channels including the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),” she told AFP.

Seoul diplomats will address the broad issue of ensuring safety for North Korean refugees during a UNHCR meeting in Geneva next week, she said, but will not specifically target China for criticism.

The spokeswoman also confirmed a media report that 11 North Korean refugees have been trapped in South Korean consulates in Beijing and Shenyang for almost three years because China refuses to let them leave for the South.

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Post tags: Kim Jong-un, North Korea, north korean refugees, North Korean relations, UN
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For years, human rights advocates have criticized China’s refusal to recognize North Korean defectors and its policy of returning, or repatriating, all escapees from the North captured on its soil. Beijing’s stance has taken on more urgency in recent weeks, after new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to punish and even kill three generations of family members of anyone who tries to leave the impoverished North.

On Tuesday, ringed by police officers, more than 100 people gathered across the street from the Chinese Embassy, waving banners that read “The Chinese government should stop pushing North Korean defectors toward the guillotine” and “Forced repatriation is a death sentence.”

The most recent arrests took place last Wednesday, when at least 10 defectors were arrested at a bus terminal in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

The arrests were the first involving a large group of North Korean defectors since Kim took control in Pyongyang. He assumed power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died of a heart attack in December.

Due to China’s rise in power, the issue of China’s treatment of the defectors has been controversial. The Korea Herald adds:

The latest case also triggered criticism of Seoul’s so-called “low-key” diplomacy regarding North Koreans picked up in China, with activists here calling on the government to pressure China to stop their “inhumane” repatriations.

Some experts and activists say that China, rising as part of the G-2, should present a positive image as a global leader and promote universal values such as human rights.

But Beijing is seemingly more concerned with state sovereignty than individual human rights, as witnessed on Feb. 4 when it, along with Russia, vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the leader of Syria to step down over the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Officials from Beijing and the North reportedly met last Sunday and this Monday to discuss the issue. Observers believe the chances are high that the defectors will soon be handed over to Pyongyang.

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Run by a missionary foster couple, the home where (orphan) Yeon Ah lives takes in ethnic Korean children or those from mixed Chinese-Korean background, some of whom are the stateless offspring of North Korean defector women and local Chinese men.

Others are the children of defectors who were born in North Korea and crossed the border with their parents, only to lose touch with them in China…Aid workers estimate that there are about 2,000 “defector orphans” in China, with a possible total of 30,000 North Korean defectors living in hiding, mostly driven over the border to look for food and work.

“Stateless orphans,” on the other hand, are born out of relationships between North Korean women and Chinese men, with their mothers subsequently deported to North Korea… (they) are currently believed to number 10,000-20,000, and are unable to get an education because they lack official Chinese papers. Late registration of children without papers costs 5,000 yuan (U.S. $750), around three times the monthly salary of the average Chinese person, aid workers said.

Aid groups from the United States, South Korea, and other countries pay for some children to be registered and attend kindergarten and schools for ethnic Korean-Chinese children.

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When we set out, we had no intention of leaving China, but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side. He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border.

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained.

Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

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Post tags: foreign correspondents, human trafficking, Laura Ling, North Korea, north korean refugees
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The Korean Central News Agency said on Thursday the trial of Laura Ling and Euna Lee would start at 3 pm local time (0600 GMT) but has not released any further information.

Experts say the pair could face up to 10 years in a North Korean labour camp if convicted of entering the country with hostile intent.

From Chosun Ilbo:

This is the first time American citizens have stood trial in a North Korean court, and it is unprecedented for the North to announce the time of trial. The date was announced on May 14. “It seems that the North is attempting to take advantage of this incident for its negotiations with the U.S.,” a South Korean government official speculated.

The verdict could become a new variable in Washington-Pyongyang relations, which are icy after North Korea’s nuclear test on May 25 and moves to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The journalists are charged with “illegal entry” and “hostile acts” against North Korea, which could put them into jail for up to 10 years under the country’s criminal code. The North on March 31 said the charges were supported “by evidence and their own testimonies.”

From AP:

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First, there’s a silly assumption in Washington that our interests (no nukes in North Korea) are the same as China’s. But they’re not. China’s first interest in North Korea is making sure the Kim regime doesn’t collapse. China’s second interest? Making sure the Kim regime doesn’t collapse. From Beijing’s perspective, nukes in North Korea rank somewhere around 10th.

Why is China so intent on “regime maintenance”? If North Korea collapses a few things happen.

First, about 2 million people will rush into China’s northeast as refugees. Not fun – and a huge tax on China’s already poor infrastructure.

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Post tags: diplomacy, North Korea, North Korea nuclear, north korean refugees
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Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who work for San Francisco-based Current TV, a media venture founded by former Vice President Al Gore, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while reporting on refugees living in China.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency confirmed their detention late last month, saying indictments were being prepared as an investigation into suspected illegal entry and unspecified “hostile acts” continued.

A dispatch Friday said the investigation had concluded, and the journalists would stand trial “on the basis of the confirmed crimes.” It did not say exactly what charges they face or when the trial would take place.

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The reclusive state accused the two women reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee from the U.S.-based media outlet Current TV, of unspecified “hostile acts.”

Pyongyang’s announcement comes just days before North Korea plans to put what it says is a satellite into space but which Washington and others say will be a test of a long-range missile that could carry a warhead as far as U.S. territory.

One Seoul-based analyst said intelligence reports indicated North Korea appears to have built nuclear warheads for its mid-range Rodong missiles, which can reach Japan.

See some of Ling’s previous reporting on China for Current TV, via CDT.

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The reporting Ling and Lee were doing took them all the way to the border between China and North Korean.

It is a difficult, even dangerous trip. They got help planning the journey from Reverend Chun Ki Won, a Christian missionary from South Korea whose organization smuggles Bibles into North Korea through China.

[...] “It’s hard to determine the border, that which is North Korea or that which is China because it is just frozen river,” he said.

So Chun said it’s possible that the reporters inadvertently stepped onto North Korean territory, and that was likely when North Korean soldiers arrested the two women, accusing them of entering the country illegally.

Korea Times has more details:

The Korea Central News Agency said its authorities detained two Americans on March 17 while they were “illegally intruding the territory of the DPRK by crossing the DPRK-China border,” Yonhap reported Saturday. DPRK is the official name for North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The report came as two female reporters from Current TV, an American Cable outlet, were reportedly taken by North Korean soldiers along the Tumen River on the Chinese border while filming the North Korean side early this week.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “is engaged in this matter right now,” spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Friday. “There is a lot of diplomacy going on. There have been a number of contacts made.”

See some of Ling’s previous reporting on China for Current TV, via CDT.

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A newly formed rights group said Tuesday it would launch a campaign to help thousands of North Korean children forced into begging or prostitution in northeast China.

The Seoul-based North Korean Human Rights Campaign Organising Committee said it was concerned about orphan refugees and about “stateless” children born to North Korean refugee women and Chinese men.

The number of orphans who have fled food shortages and other hardships and crossed into China is now about 2,000, according to committee estimates based on surveys by non-governmental organisations.

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Post tags: children, North Korea, north korean refugees
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