South Korea says it expressed concern to China for sending North Korean escapees back home

autotldr Bot , 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said Seoul did not have information on the exact number of North Koreans repatriated from northeast China or how many of them were “escapees, medical patients or criminals.”

His comments followed several media reports based on activist sources that alleged China recently returned hundreds of escapees back to North Korea where they would face the risk of persecution and harsh treatment.

“(Our) government’s position is that there should be no circumstances in which North Koreans living abroad would be forcibly repatriated back home against their will.”

When asked about the alleged repatriations of North Koreans on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin did not confirm the reports but said Beijing has been “properly” handling North Koreans who illegally entered the country based on “relevant domestic laws, international law and humanitarian principles.”

Citing an activist account, the Human Rights Watch in a report on Thursday alleged that China this week used several vehicle convoys to forcibly return more than 500 people who had escaped North Korea.

The group said most of the returnees were women and expressed concerns that they were at “grave risk” of being detained in forced labor camps, and potentially face torture and other violence.

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The original article contains 334 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 37%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

praise_idleness , 9 months ago

Don’t forget that NK defectors get sold as slaves near China/NK border more often than not. Brokers that get paid to help people cross border often sell them off because they know that those defectors have nowhere else to go. You go back, you get killed/sent to concentration camp where you’ll worked to death. You stay then we’ll, you’re live a slave. All the NK defectors stories make me want to vomit.

China should not send them back if they are unwilling. It’s more than common sense that once they go back, they will get killed. How is that different from just killing people off? They’re making them to choose between slavery and death. This is truly one of the most serious crimes against humanity.