ed Deportation of N. Koreans

China should stop deporting North Korean refugees back to their home country. They face harsh punishments, including death, upon their return. Seoul should join hands with the international community, including the United Nations, to stop Beijing's forcible repatriation of thirty-five North Koreans against their will.

The defectors face an immediate return to the North. Two of them include former North Koreans who obtained South Korean citizenship. Despite Seoul's appeal, China returned 110 North Koreans last July.

At a National Assembly interpellation Wednesday, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Sung-hwan expressed concern over the imminent deportation of the North Koreans the Chinese police rounded up for their alleged illegal entry.

China's argument is to prevent a massive influx of North Koreans into its territory if they are tolerant toward the defectors. Beijing's concerns are groundless. For the past two decades, no such mass exodus has taken place. In addition, they can prevent the inflow of North Koreans by tightening border controls.

It is true that China has the sovereign rights to take legal action against unauthorized entrants. It should devise ways of not seeing the brutal persecution of these escapees from the North, however.

China should handle the defector issue from a humanitarian point of view. The deserters must be able to decide their fate freely. Seoul should take a proactive role in dissuading Beijing from sending back them to the North. Seoul should also appeal to China for humane treatment of the escapees.

Under a treaty with North Korea, China is to deport the defectors to North Korea regardless of their will. This inhumane treaty should be scrapped. In return for deporting the illegal entrants, China should at least get a written guarantee from the North that the returnees will not face harsh punishment or detainment at the gulag-like concentration camps.

China should allow the Seoul government to verify the will of North Korean escapees. China, the world’s second largest economy, should honor international treaties on the human rights of refugees and defectors.