By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

North Korean defectors in Seoul staged a rally Monday to protest China's repatriation of North Korean refugees with the arrival of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

They also sent a letter to Hu through the Chinese Embassy demanding that he stop the deportations and help asylum seekers go wherever they wish to.

``An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 North Korean escapees are in China. Between 150 to 300 of them are caught by Chinese police and sent to the North every week,'' said the Rev. Kim Kyou-ho, secretary general of Christians for Social Responsibility which organized the rally.

He urged that the inhumane act be stopped immediately.

China after the end of the Beijing Olympic Games has to pay more attention to North Korean refugees' human rights to raise its profile in the international society, Kim said.

Defectors and civic group members say North Koreans who are repatriated to the Stalinist state face imprisonment, torture and execution.

About 100 North Korean defectors and human rights activists gathered at Cheonggye Square in Seoul for the rally.

They urged China to release human rights activists detained for helping North Koreans escape from the North.

They also demanded preventative measures against prostitution and human trafficking by Chinese near the Chinese-North Korean borders.

North Korean refugees in China should be allowed to leave for other countries, including South Korea, if they wish, they said.

In Washington, North Korean defector Cho Jin-hae has been on a hunger strike since Aug. 2. Cho moved to the United States with her mother and younger sister in March.

She has demanded a stop to defector deportations by China in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr