Lawmakers appeal for international effort to stop repatriation of N.K. defectors

A group of South Korean lawmakers vowed to step up efforts to stop China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors as they visited Geneva to attend a U.N. meeting on human rights.

The four-member delegation made the pledge in a meeting Sunday with Park Sang-ki, the ambassador at South Korea’s mission to Geneva in Switzerland, as part of their efforts to draw international attention to North Korean escapees facing repatriation to their home where they could face punishment and even death.

“Repatriation of North Korean defectors is not just a matter concerning Korean people, but it’s a matter of infringement of universal human values,” said Rep. Kim Hyung-oh, a former Parliamentary Speaker who led the delegation. “It is regrettable that Chinese authorities have not changed their attitude even though they know what kind of situations North Korean defectors could face when they are sent back to the North.”

South Korea previously opted for “quiet diplomacy” on the issue, but shifted the policy following reports that about 30 North Koreans were facing deportation against their will after being arrested by Chinese authorities on a few occasions last month.

The Geneva visit was proposed by Rep. Park Sun-young of the conservative minor Liberty Forward Party who had staged a hunger strike for North Korean defectors to add pressure on Beijing to stop repatriation of refugees.

The legislators said they will attend a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on North Korea, and will meet Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, to further discuss the matter.

On Wednesday, the delegation will take part in the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy to hear witnesses of North Korean refugees and meet senior U.N. officials. They also plan to hold rallies in front of the U.N. office in Geneva to raise awareness of the issue before returning to South Korea on Thursday.

Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of North Koreans are believed to be living in hiding in China after fleeing their communist homeland, hoping to settle in South Korea. China regards them as economic migrants, not as refugees, and repatriates them. (Yonhap News)