Minister urges China to act for defectors

By Kim Young-jin

Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik urged China to move toward resolving diplomatic tensions arising from its policy of forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors, Thursday.

The call from the former ambassador to Beijing came amid international concern over the plight of dozens of North Koreans thought to be in grave danger of being returned to their homeland after a period of detention in China.

“China needs to show progress,” he told a forum in Seoul, reiterating the government’s position that such cases be handled in accordance with international norms and through diplomacy.

The issue is a thorny one as defectors and rights groups say those who are repatriated to the North are subject to harsh punishment including torture and even death. But Beijing, a key ally of the impoverished North, has reiterated that it does not consider North Korean defectors refugees but rather illegal economic migrants.

The point man on inter-Korean relations stressed however that root of the problem lay with Pyongyang, which maintains an iron-grip over its people in part through crackdowns against would be defectors and a sprawling political prisoner system.

The matter has grabbed headlines in recent weeks on the back of grassroots campaigning to save 34 North Koreans who were caught by Chinese authorities as they attempted to flee their Stalinist homeland. Over 23,000 defectors have been granted citizenship in the South.

Analysts say Beijing is concerned about the prospect of an increasing flow of refugees across its border as well as its ties with Pyongyang.

The South, apparently breaking from its pattern of “quiet diplomacy” over the repatriation policy, has become increasingly vocal on the matter, with President Lee Myung-bak last week calling for Beijing’s cooperation during talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Yang echoed Beijing’s earlier pledges that the situation would be dealt with in view of “domestic and international law.”