North Korea rejects to accept NK defectors from China
The coronavirus is still frustrating the restart of our rescue operations.
The full blockade at the China-North Korean border is still going on, and according to Yonhap News, the North Korean government recently buried landmines in a part of the border area.
A recent article by NEWS Post Seven indicates a significant change in the repatriation of North Korean defectors from China.
“North Korea refuses the repatriation of North Korean defectors from China; more than 1000 people already”
In Jilin and Liaoning provinces, which border North Korea, the authorities in North Korea refused China’s notice of the transfer of the North Korean defectors who were detained by the Chinese police.
The local newspaper “Changchun Daily” in Jilin Province reported that China has limited space to accommodate North Korean defectors, so it is possible that the crackdown on such defectors will be eased in the future.
In early October, the Jilin provincial authorities notified the North Korean side that they would hand over 200 North Korean defectors who had been detained in the border area from January this year. However, the North Korean authorities have reported that the border with China is currently closed at the direction of the government and the defectors cannot be accepted.
In addition, Liaoning Provincial authorities recently requested that North Korea accept about 20 people of North Korean nationality who have been detained since February this year, but there has been no reply from the North Korean side.
Since January this year, North Korea has basically banned cross-border trade and human exchanges because the infection with the new coronavirus may destroy the fragile public health infrastructure in North Korea.
North Korean officials are unofficially telling Chinese authorities that they are refusing to take over North Korean defectors because of the high risk of infection with the new coronavirus, and the preparation for the 70th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. They also said they were busy with the “80-day struggle” to achieve production goals in agricultural and industrial fields by the end of the year.
North Korean defectors are being held in border detention centers and prisons managed by Chinese police, but those facilities are already full and are expected to exceed 1,000 people.
Most of the North Korean defectors are said to have been either homeless or illegally working in downtown areas. Chinese police cannot just leave them unchecked, because they are likely to encounter money problems and commit crimes in China.