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| Activists urge Beijing to stop repatriating North Korean refugees detained in China during a rally held in central Seoul in July, 2022. Korea Times file |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
U.S. lawmakers Christopher Smith and Jeff Merkley, co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released an open letter calling for a meeting with two U.N. high commissioners to discuss ways to prevent Beijing from repatriating North Korean defectors held in China.
Their open letter was unveiled on Thursday (Seoul time) as North Korea opened its border with China on Sunday to allow its workers to return home.
The reopening of the North Korea-China border, after being closed since January 2020 in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, has become a source of concern as a massive humanitarian crisis looms. As many as 2,000 North Korean defectors are currently detained in China and are feared to be repatriated back to the North against their will.
In the letter, Rep. Smith and Sen. Merkley requested U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to set up a meeting to discuss ways to prevent China from sending the North Koreans back to the North.
"We would like to request either an on-line or in-person meeting with both of you, either jointly or separately, to discuss the further steps that the U.N. can take to prevent forced repatriation and avert a potential mass human rights crisis," the letter reads.
"We note with gratitude that after a 6-year hiatus, the Security Council held a public meeting on North Korean human rights, during which High Commissioner Turk made a veiled reference to China's role in the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees. We understand that others within then U.N. System have expressed concern about this issue as well."
The U.S. lawmakers voiced concerns that China has ignored the international community's repeated calls to stop repatriating North Korean refugees.
"However, the Chinese government remains intransigent, alleging that the principle of non-refoulement does not apply to North Korean defectors as they are considered illegal immigrants―a conclusory assertion which does not comport with the PRC's obligations under international law," they said in the letter. PRC is an acronym for People's Republic of China.
The U.S. lawmakers proposed a meeting with the U.N. officials more than two months after a CECC hearing was held on the issue in June.
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