Park calls for NK refugees' safety

An activist urges the government not to disregard the case of nine young North Koreans, who were repatriated to North Korea from Laos via China last week, with a placard hanging around his neck. It reads: “Don’t ignore the children” at the Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye demanded Monday that North Korea guarantee the safety of nine North Korean defectors who were forcibly repatriated last month after they were captured in Laos.

“It is truly regrettable, an incident that should not have taken place,” Park said during a meeting with senior secretaries.

Last week, nine North Korean defectors, aged between 15 and 23 who fled their country in 2011, were caught in Laos and returned on China on May 27 before being flown back to Pyongyang the next day. The repatriation has raised global concern for their safety because the young asylum seekers are expected to receive life sentences in labor camps or even the death penalty.

She added “If their safety is not guaranteed, North Korea will not be able to avoid international criticism and responsibility for their human rights.”

Before the nine defectors ― seven men and two women ― were deported to North Korea, South Korea requested that the Laotian government send them to Seoul, only to be denied, which put the foreign ministry in the hot seat for making apparently lackadaisical diplomatic efforts.

However, Park said that this case should not be limited to a diplomatic issue between South Korea and Laos.

“As a global matter about the human rights of North Korean defectors and every possible effort should be made within the international community especially refugee organizations, to ensure their safety,” she said.

President also said that the government should regard defector issues with a greater sense of responsibility and come up with measures to ensure that the latest case won't have negative impacts on major defection routes that fleeing North Koreans have taken to seek asylum via other countries.

Meanwhile, Saenuri Party lawmaker Ha Tae-keung and the Group for North Korea Human Rights said on the day that the South Korean embassy in Laos has been negligent in dealing with issues concerning North Korean defectors.

They held a press conference in Seoul and announced 12 cases that the Korean embassy has neglected, dating back to 2006.

“The quick reactions of North Korea, which previously overlooked defectors escaping through Southeast Asia, is attributed to Kim Jong-un’s order to stop its people from fleeing the communist country,” Ha said.

He also said that a bill on the North Korean human Rights Act, adrift in the National Assembly since 2005 due to objections from opposition parties, should be passed as soon as possible in order to prevent North Korean asylum seekers from being deported.