Lawmakers’ alliance adopts resolution against China’s forced deportation of North Korean defectors

The Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China agreed to join efforts to stop China from forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors detained there over a summit in Prague, the Czech Republic.

In a resolution adopted on the last day of the three-day summit, the Alliance’s member lawmakers said they would resolve to “press (their) governments to make diplomatic efforts to the People’s Republic of China, urging them to cease repatriating North Korean defectors.”

South Korean ruling People Power Party Rep. Ji Seong-ho, who was invited to speak at the summit despite South Korea not being a part of the Alliance, has been working with lawmakers of member states in the months leading up to the summit, according to his office. Ji defected from North to South Korea in 2006 and was elected to the National Assembly in 2020.

This year’s summit focused on the possible mass deportation of North Korean defectors with the opening of borders between China and North Korea. Upon being returned to North Korea, where they are treated as traitors, the defectors will likely face serious human rights violations, Ji said.