Further to yesterday's post on Chinese repatriation of North Korean refugees, and the growing chorus of protests:
24 defectors who were arrested jointly by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and North Korea’s National Security Agency earlier this month are currently being detained at a detention center on the Chinese side of the Tumen River at Tumen. North Korea’s National Security Agency has repeatedly requested their repatriation, but with public opinion in strong opposition the Chinese authorities are apparently unwilling to move.
A well informed source inside the Chinese security forces told the Daily NK today, “A total of 24 defectors, 19 arrested in Shenyang and another five from Changchun and elsewhere, are currently imprisoned at the Tumen camp.”
The source said that persons arrested in Shenyang are usually taken to Dandong; however because this was a joint operation undertaken with the NSA they were moved to Tumen.
“As protests mount from the international community and the South Korean government, the cadres from Chinese public security are hesitating as to what to do. The investigation is over, but repatriation is stalled for now,” the source added. “The North Korean NSA is pressuring the Chinese to send the detainees back, but they seem to be worried.”
The Chinese government appears fearful of dealing with the defectors now, while the chorus of opposition to their repatriation in the international media grows louder. However, Beijing still defines all North Korean defectors as illegal economic migrants, and will probably repatriate them when the situation settles down.
One North Korean currently in China to meet family has told Daily NK that the 24 are in particular danger if they are repatriated, saying, “The ones caught this time all said that they were going to go to South Chosun [South Korea], so if they are returned to the North they will undoubtedly be executed for being ‘traitors who sullied the reputation of the fatherland.’”
Perhaps China is not quite as impervious to international outrage as we'd assumed.
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