A young boy holds pictures of alleged young North Korean refugees during a demonstration calling on Chinese President Xi Jinping to "allow safe passage to North Koreans detained in China" across the street from the Chinese embassy in Washington on Sept. 24, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged China to provide asylum to North Koreans arriving in the country and refrain from forcibly returning them.
In a press statement issued May 8, HRW accused China of forcibly repatriating 60 refugees on April 26 putting them at grave risk of enforced disappearance, torture, sexual violence, wrongful imprisonment, forced labor, and execution.
“The Chinese government should provide asylum to North Koreans in China or give them safe passage to South Korea or another safe third country,” HRW added.
It also urged the Chinese authorities to allow the UN Refugee Agency to exercise its mandate and provide access to all detained North Korean refugees in the country.
“Governments around the world, including South Korea, should call for an end to all forced returns to North Korea,” HRW said.
The latest case of forced repatriation occurred right after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with China’s third-highest official, Zhao Leji, on April 13, seeking stronger bilateral ties, HRW alleged.
Following the meeting, rights activists and North Koreans in exile had raised concerns that “China might speed up forced repatriations of North Koreans,” HRW said.
An underground South Korean Christian missionary who goes by the pseudonym Stephen Kim told HRW that the Chinese authorities had forcibly returned the 60 North Koreans from China’s Jilin and Liaoning provinces.
Kim alleged that the Chinese authorities had apprehended at least 92 North Koreans since January and said that he could not confirm whether anyone from that group was forcibly returned on April 26.
Kim said he “thought it was highly unlikely” that anyone from the 92 North Koreans was included in the group.
HRW said that it has independently verified that the Chinese government has forcibly returned more than 670 North Koreans since Pyongyang closed its northern border in early 2020.
This includes more than 500 North Koreans on October 9, 2023, 40 others on Sept. 18, 2023, 80 on August 29, 2023, and about 50 in July 2021.
Reportedly, China has labeled North Korean refugees as illegal “economic migrants.”
The forcible repatriation is based on a 1986 bilateral border protocol between China and North Korea.
China is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as the United Nations Convention against Torture.
HRW pointed out that China is thus obligated to not force back anyone who would be at risk of persecution or torture, a breach of the fundamental principle of non-refoulement.
Non-refoulement is a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in probable danger of persecution based on "race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
The situation of North Koreans returning to their country is life-threatening due to the prevalent laws in the country.
North Korean authorities consider departures from the country without permission a serious crime.
HRW alleged that anyone who returns to North Korea after fleeing will likely be subjected to torture or otherwise mistreated.
Hence, everyone who flees North Korea has “a claim for refugee status in whichever country they reach and should be given the opportunity to have that claim heard,” HRW added.
North Korea faces multiple allegations at international forums for its human rights violations.
North Korea is rated with a dismal three points out of 100 in the Freedom in the World 2023 Index released by US-based Freedom House.
