NORTH KOREA

Defections on the rise

19 February 2002

Number of defectors to South is rising steadily

JoongAng Ilbo (February 18, 2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (19.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -- The number of North Koreans defecting to the South has steadily risen over the past three years, the Ministry of Unification reported recently.

The ministry said 71 defectors came to South Korea in 1998, 148 in 1999, 312 in 2000 and 583 in 2001. Most of the defectors - about 70 percent - are men. The government said 197 of the total 1,990 North Koreans who have sought shelter in the North have passed away and 35 had left for third countries, leaving 1,758 still residing in the South. Defectors to the South generally settled in the Seoul metropolitan area, with Seoul having 746 (42.4 percent) and Gyeonggi province, which surrounds the capital, has 271 (15.4 percent).

"China estimates that it has less than 10,000 North Korean defectors, but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says there are about 30,000 in China," many of them hoping to come to South Korea to live, a ministry official said. Some non-governmental organizations estimate the number of North Koreans in China to be as high as 300,000.

More defectors vanishing

By Lee Young-jong,

JoongAng Ilbo (February 15, 2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (19.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -- Many more resettled North Korean defectors are disappearing, being captured in China or re-entering the North in search of their relatives, than in the past. Observers say the trend shows that the South Korean government is fighting an uphill battle to help an estimated 1,700 resettled defectors find a new life.

On Thursday the government reported that a former senior official with the North Korean Workers' Party, Kim Jeong-min, has been missing since he left on a trip to China six months ago. Mr. Kim, who worked for a trading company affiliated with the Workers' Party, defected in May 1988. Those close to Mr. Kim said he often mentioned how he longed to bring his two daughters in the North to Seoul.

Yoo Tae-joon, another defector who had settled in the South, returned on Saturday after spending nearly two years in a North Korean prison; he had returned to the North in search of his wife.

Shin Jun-cheol, a former colonel in the North's Korean People's Army who defected in 1998, disappeared, like Mr. Kim, after leaving on a trip to China in June 2000.

Most cases involve defectors who have become South Korean nationals. South Koreans wishing to travel to North Korea must obtain prior consent to do so, which most resettled North Korean defectors do not do. Officials at the Unification Ministry said that they are bombarded by defectors with requests for resettlement fees and help finding jobs, leaving them with little time to monitor the defectors' travel habits.

"It is not easy to curtail foreign travel by resettled North Korean defectors as they are legally South Korean citizens," said Jhe Seong-ho, a professor at Chungang University. "But for their safety, and to forestall diplomatic conflict, the government should keep track of those who travel to countries bordering North Korea - especially China and Russia."

The number of North Korean defectors continues to rise, with 583 having arrived in the South last year. Civic groups estimate that 200,000 to 300,000 North Koreans are living as fugitives in China or other coutries, while waiting to come to South Korea.

Defectors to feel a tight rein

By Lee Young-jong

JoongAng Ilbo (February 17, 2002) /HRWF International Secretariat (19.02.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -- The government announced Friday that it would increase the monitoring of North Korean defectors traveling overseas. It was discovered that North Korean defectors were leaving the country without government knowledge, and in some cases had gone missing or had re-entered North Korea.

The government said it would focus on the estimated 1,700 defectors living in Seoul, especially those who have not completed the government protection period, which is five years. The government estimated that 25 defectors are currently traveling overseas. The government decided to restrict North Koreans from traveling to foreign countries to ensure their safety and to avoid the possibility that they might commit illegal actions that could create diplomatic problems with other countries, especially North Korea and China.

The government restrictions came after Yoo Tae-joon, who recently succeeded in his second attempt at crossing the North Korean border, was found to have given a false statement about his escape. Mr. Yoo, who defected to South Korea in 1998, re-entered the North in 2000 in order to return with his wife.

Mr. Yoo told reporters in Seoul Saturday that he broke out of a solitary confinement facility operated by the North Korean intelligence service. After a thorough interrogation, the government discovered that Kim Jong-il, National Defense Commission chairman of North Korea, had personally pardoned Mr. Yoo in May last year. Mr. Yoo later worked at a food factory from which he walked away during his lunch break on Nov. 10. He crossed the Chinese boarder on Nov. 30.

Mr. Yoo told South Korean reporters that he had been able to see his wife only from a distance while he was in North Korea. Government interrogaters later learned that he had lived with her for 25 days.

The police and the National Intelligence Service conducted a joint investigation of Mr. Yoo for possible violations of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation laws and laws on national security.