U.N. envoy urges China not to deport N. Korean defectors

(ATTN: CORRECTS to U.N. envoy in 7th para)
By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- A U.N. human rights envoy Wednesday called on China to
stop sending back North Korean defectors to their communist homeland and accused
the Chinese government of paying rewards for the successful arrest and
deportation of North Korean asylum seekers.
"This (dislocation of North Korean defectors) is compounded by human trafficking
and smuggling which often prey on those who are already vulnerable," said Vitit
Muntarbhorn, a U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights, at an
international symposium arranged here by South Korea's Human Rights Commission.
"Thus a humane response is invited from all countries to respect the human rights
of those who are displaced, whatever their designation and however they are
classified," he added.
Muntarbhorn said China, as any other country, should honor the principle of
"non-refoulement," a principle in international law on refugees which prohibits
the return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom could be
threatened. North Koreans who are repatriated often face harsh punishments once
returned to the North
Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in
China, while only about 1,000 or less find their way to South Korea each year,
often via a third country.
China, a close ally of North Korea, says North Koreans in the country illegally
are economic migrants, not refugees, and regularly rounds them up to be deported
back to their communist homeland.
The U.N. envoy, however, claimed the Chinese government was going out of its way
to round up and deport North Korean refugees by offering money to people with
information that leads to successful arrest of North Koreans.
"Asylum seekers are being apprehended through the promise of rewards offered by
the local authorities... to help identify them, with a view to forcibly returning
them to the country of origin," Muntarbhorn said.
The Thai professor, appointed to the U.N. post in 2004, has repeatedly called on
Pyongyang to halt public executions and torture of political prisoners and to
provide access to food and other daily necessities to all its people.
Meanwhile, U.S. analyst John Feffer, who co-directs the Washington-based
Institute for Policy Studies, argued that the human rights issue must be
addressed during negotiations with North Korea on getting rid of its nuclear
weapons programs.
"Human rights must be integrated practically into U.S. engagement policy toward
North Korea," said Feffer, adding that a special U.S. envoy on North Korean human
rights should be included in the nuclear disarmament talks and in any other
bilateral negotiations between North Korea and the United States on normalizing
ties.
"North Korea sees that only it is held accountable to international norms of
human rights and that only it is required to accede to international covenants.
Then the prospects for improving the day-to-day lives of so many North Koreans
will be very dim indeed," he said.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)