CHINA/NORTH KOREA

RED ALERT FOR 150,000 NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS IN CHINA

Mass-scale man-hunting by the Chinese authorities

After 25 North Koreans took refuge in the Spanish Embassy in Beijing and were allowed to leave China to South Korea via Manilla, there has been a crackdown on around 150,000 refugees who are still hiding in the Chinese border area.

The Committee to Help North Korean Refugees (CNKR) is staging mass demonstrations at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Monday, 25 March.

25 March 2002

Latest information about the Chinese crackdown on North Korean refugees

HRWF International Secretariat (25.03.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - According to some information from members of a group of international human right volunteers of Human Rights Without Frontiers who are still operating at the Chinese-North Korean border it has been revealed that the Chinese authorities have launched a mass-scale man-hunting against some 150,000 North Korean defectors living underground in China.

All Chinese border guards in the areas of Hunchon, Tumen, Kyesantun, Samhap and Sungson have now been replaced with new guards to strengthen border security and to block a greater number of routes defectors use from North Korea. Every apartment guard in the city of Yanji has been instructed to make an immediate list of both Chinese and foreign tenants as well as to thoroughly report on the activities of tenants in their buildings. A thorough door-to-door search was launched on Saturday, March 23rd.

Local Chinese officials have seized the occasion of recent labor disputes in Heillungjiang Province to further crack down on North Korean defectors.

It is also believed that Chinese Prime Minister, Chu Nung Ji, has issued secret instructions giving priority to the manhunt for North Korean defectors and issued permission for thorough searches of foreigners`homes and offices. Churches, airports, port facilities, railway stations, bus terminals, hotels, welfare institutions, foreign schools markets, construction sites, restaurants, saunas, coffee shops, PC/Video rooms, all roads, villages and even empty houses perched on hills are now subject to search.

Policemen currently carry photographs of wanted individuals, both foreigners and domestic. The police are believed to update their reports at very short intervals. All vehicles traveling in and out of Yanji are stopped for search. Many citizens report seeing police cars and trucks carrying arrested North Koreans. Observers report that defectors are shown treatment less humane than ordinary farm animals.

North Korean defectors are being repatriated to North Korea by the hundreds every day. Humanitarian aid workers who assist North Korean defectors are facing a most ominous period in the days ahead.

Human Rights Without Frontiers calls on:

all organisations and individuals who are concerned with the fate of the North Korean defectors to manifest their disagreement with the policies currently pursued by the Chinese authoirities by staging demonstrations and/or sending letters of protests to the Chinese authorities requesting them:

1. To suspend the search immediately and stop the arrest of North Korean defectors and their forced repatriation

2. To allow UNHCR to investigate the reality of North Korean defectors in the north-eastern provinces of China

3. To accept their refugee status application and to verify the legality of their refugee status together with UNHCR