Urgent appeal – South Korean government should provide protection and asylum to North Koreans
24 January 2007 6:00 pm

North Koreans who sought refuge in China were forcibly returned to North Korea by Chinese police in October 2006. FORUM-ASIA is concerned and we urge the South Korean government to ensure that the forcible return (refoulement) of North Korean asylum seekers does not result from lack of action and will. This is a serious ongoing issue for South Korea – as a state party to various international conventions, a member of the UN Human Rights Council, and as the country the current UN Secretary-General is from. South Korea is committed to implementing and putting into action all international human rights standards. This includes the government’s responsibility to provide protection to asylum seekers from North Korea seeking refuge in the South.FORUM-ASIA is concerned that North Koreans who sought refuge in China were forcibly returned to North Korea by Chinese police in October 2006. It is particularly deplorable that the asylum seekers were arrested at a private home, designated and recommended by South Korea’s diplomatic mission. This indicates that there is a lack of engagement between the South Korean government and its own diplomatic missions in neighboring countries on the issue of North Korean refugees. Those who were returned include the wives and other relatives of three South Korean prisoners-of-war taken by the North during the Korean War.

We remain seriously concerned by the handling of asylum seekers by the South Korean diplomatic mission and the Chinese government. Based on the testimonies of refugees now living in South Korea, as well as the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, those returned to the North face torture, imprisonment, and even death. We urge the government of South Korea to ensure that the forcible return (refoulement) of North Korean asylum seekers does not result from lack of action and will.

FORUM-ASIA requests the government of South Korea to strengthen and improve its humanitarian policy of accepting those who have sought refuge from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea particularly those in China, and to take a more proactive approach in ensuring their safe arrival.  We call on the government to take a more firm approach in pressuring the government of China to heed to the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur and put a halt to the refoulement of North Korean refugees in accordance with their international human rights obligations.

Finally, the government must investigate the whereabouts of the asylum seekers who were forcibly returned to North Korea. The government must also publicly denounce the refoulement of refugees to the international community and should not tolerate a lukewarm attitude towards the human rights affairs of North Korea and China. We remind the South Korean government that as a state party to various international conventions and as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, and as the country that the current UN Secretary-General is from, it is committed to implementing and putting into action all international human rights standards.  This includes the government’s responsibility to provide protection – including asylum – to asylum seekers from North Korea seeking refuge in the country.

Anselmo Lee
Executive Director

For more information, please contact Heidi Han, Human Rights Defenders Program (+66 2 391 8801 / [email protected])