By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The Russian government has refused to grant asylum status to a North Korean defector, according to a report Monday.
The defector had been taken into custody in Russia for purposes of being sent back to North Korea and had then escaped in order to seek asylum.
Radio Free Asia (RFA), quoting a U.N. refugees agency, reported that North Korean Jong Kum-chul, after being denied asylum, is now seeking a third country to go to including South Korea.
``His application was rejected and he has launched an appeal. That is the current status of the internal procedure here,'' Wolfgang Milzow, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Russia, said.
Milzow said Jong will not be extradited to North Korea for the time being because the Russian government will allow him a temporary stay until a decision is made on the appeal. The decision often takes more than one year, according to the representative.
Jong will live in a safe house provided by the UNHCR during the appeal process.
A non-governmental rights organization based in Russia, Civil Assistance, which has provided some help to Jong since last April, discussed his situation with the South Korean Embassy in Moscow.
Svetlana Gannushkina, head of Civil Assistance, expressed concern about Jong's security even though he is under protection of the UNHCR, saying that he has no choice but to go to another country such as South Korea because Russia had denied him asylum.