N.K. defectors in China face repatriation

Scores of North Korean defectors in China are facing repatriation back to their ironfisted homeland, a South Korean humanitarian group said Monday.

According to the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees, a group of 20 North Koreans was rounded up in Shenyang, China, on Sept. 26, along with 10 others in Weihai, Shandong Province, on the same day. Another three were arrested on Sept. 29 and 30 in Yanji, it said.

The group including old people and teenagers who have achieved South Korean citizenship are “on the verge of” being sent back to their country against their will, the group said on its website.

“It has been confirmed that a total of 35 people have been arrested. They are said to be set for deportation back to North Korea through Tumen in early October,” the web posting read.

Once the defectors enter their homeland, they are likely to be imprisoned as political prisoners or even executed, an unnamed member of the group said Monday.

“Punishment on defectors has been strengthened since Kim Jong-un was named successor,” he said.

The commission has asked the Seoul government and the U.N. to play a role in blocking the repatriation of the defectors, investigate the reality of defectors in China, and demand the Beijing government suspend its inhumane policy of sending back these people.

Nearly 22,000 North Koreans are known to have defected here since the 1950-53 Korean War, braving the life-or-death escape and avoiding tough crackdowns from their own country as well as China, which repatriates North Koreans to face harsh punishment in their homeland.

Seoul believes tens of thousands of North Koreans are currently hiding in China, waiting for the chance to come to the South. The Unification Ministry here, which specializes in affairs with Pyongyang, expects at least 3,000 more North Korean defectors to come to the South by the end of this year.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)