China seen flinching on N.K. defectors

Four N.Korean defectors arrive in South Korea secretly after three years of forced stay in China


The recent secret arrival of four North Korean defectors in South Korea from China indicated that international pressure not to repatriate North Koreans may be having an effect.

However, it is still unclear whether the move was part of a long-term policy change.

News reports from Beijing said Tuesday China allowed four North Korean defectors, who had been staying at a South Korean consulate in China for three years, to leave for South Korea on April 1. The reports came after China strongly urged North Korea to withdraw its plan to launch a satellite in mid-April, saying it would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.

There are three South Korean consulates in China ― Beijing, Shenyang and Shanghai. Eleven North Korean defectors are thought to be staying at the three consulates, seeking asylum in South Korea.

The four who arrived in Seoul include three family members of Baek Dong-gyu, a deceased South Korean soldier who was taken prisoner during the 1950-53 Korean War. While Baek’s eldest daughter came to South Korea years ago, his second daughter, a grandson and a granddaughter entered the South this time. The other defector is reportedly a teenage girl.

“I think it is China’s ‘minimal’ response to the international pressure. The ongoing protests by South Koreans in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul and the moves by the U.S. Congress to pressure China were somewhat effective,” said Kim Tae-woo, president of the Korean Institute for National Unification, a think tank on North Korea.

“However, it is an overinterpretation to say China’s policy toward North Korean defectors is going in a new direction. China is likely to maintain its basic stance,” he said.

Under a treaty with North Korea, China regards North Korean refugees as illegal migrants who cross the border for economic reasons, and sends them back to the North, where they face a harsh punishment for defection.

Chung Gyu-sup, North Korea expert at Kwandong University, echoed Kim’s view.

He also said the arrival of the four North Korean defectors was a result of years of “quiet” negotiations by the South Korean government which should have started since the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the predecessor of the current Lee Myung-bak administration.

Since the Lee administration took office in 2008, China has refused to allow North Korean refugees who entered foreign consulates including South Korean and Japanese ones, to leave for South Korea.

The North Korean defectors were taken to South Korea in secrecy. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the news reports and gave no details.

The issue of China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors came to the spotlight in February as more than 30 North Korean defectors were held by the Chinese authorities and sent back to their homeland weeks later.

The forced repatriation not only prompted South Korean lawmakers and citizens to wage a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul but also invited international calls to stop repatriations. South Korea raised the issue of North Korean defectors at the U.N. Human Rights Council’s high-level session in late February.

The arrival of the four North Korean defectors from China also came as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his Chinese counterpart agreed to address the issue “smoothly,” during the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit in late March.

As the first-phase arrival of the North Korean defectors was widely covered by the South Korean media, China might try to delay sending the remaining defectors at South Korean consulates to South Korea, some sources said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)