Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Seoul presses Beijing on NK refugees for first time at UN human rights review
Chen Xu, head of the Chinese mission to the U.N. at Geneva and head of the Chinese delegation for the Universal Periodic Review, touches his forehead during a meeting to review China's human rights record at the European headquarters of the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday. AP-Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Rights advocates welcome initiative to confront China’s abusive deportation policy
Seoul called for more protections for North Korean refugees at a key U.N. review of Beijing’s human rights record for the first time, Tuesday, in the wake of its mass repatriation of North Koreans three months ago.
During China’s fourth universal periodic review held in Geneva under the U.N. Human Rights Council, Yun Seong-deok, South Korean ambassador to the U.N. office in Geneva, urged the Chinese government to provide North Korean escapees with proper protections and support under the international law.
Yun called on China not to forcibly repatriate North Koreans and consider enacting its own law to protect refugees in line with what is outlined in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, which requires China and other signatories to abide by non-refoulement ― the principle that refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.
The review, commonly referred to as the UPR, is a process that examines the human rights performance of all U.N. member states every 4.5 years. For 45 seconds given to speak there, Yun brought up the issue directly to his Chinese counterpart Chen Xu without mincing words.
At previous reviews of China, South Korea made no comment about the refugee issue or did so without directly mentioning North Korea.
Rights advocates have welcomed the change in the government approach, saying that it is a “meaningful step” toward promoting the rights of North Koreans and protecting them from China’s inhumane practice.
“It has long been deemed as a diplomatic taboo for South Korea to bring up that issue directly to China. At the latest UPR, that taboo was shattered,” Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group, told The Korea Times on Wednesday.
This came after Beijing deported hundreds of North Korean escapees on Oct. 9, 2023, amid signs of easing border restrictions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, the government has treated North Koreans crossing the border as illegal migrants, claiming it has the right to send them back.
But experts say that’s a flat-out violation of multiple U.N. treaties, including the Convention against Torture. Evidence of countless cases shows those deported to North Korea face years of hard labor, torture and even death.
A positive sign, however, is that China, the world’s second-largest economic power, is clearly more conscious of its global reputation today than ever before, said experts. Before the UPR, China had reportedly been lobbying many member states to praise its progress in improving human rights. Speaking at the review session, the Chinese diplomat also claimed his country scored “historic achievements.”
Experts said South Korea should take advantage of such Chinese efforts by calling for more responsibility and transparency that would match its global status and ambition.
The next step should be to cooperate with the U.N. refugee agency and other international organizations to secure access to more China-generated data on North Koreans, said Lee Ji-yoon, an activist at Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, a Seoul-based NGO.
“For now, much information is unknown, such as whether China would accept North Korean escapees as refugees under certain circumstances, how many have been granted the status, if there is any system to prosecute human traffickers targeting North Korean women and, if so, how many have actually been convicted,” she said. “More data would be essential for us to ask the right questions to make tangible progress.”