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HUNDREDS of North Korean defectors have been shipped back to the murderous regime by China in a bloody secret deal with Kim Jong-un.
No communication has been established with 600 defectors since they were sent back nearly two months ago under the cover of darkness in the “largest mass repatriation of its kind in years”.
AFP
AFP
Human rights experts believe torture, imprisonment in concentration camps, forced abortions and execution await those forcibly returned as North Korea brands them “criminals” and “traitors”.
Many were detained in China while trying to escape to South Korea and other countries in search of freedom.
And there are mounting concerns that thousands of North Korean defectors now are “sitting ducks” in detention centres across China who could be deported and disappear “at any moment”.
China is known to share a “blood alliance” with its neighbour and ally North Korea – sparking fears Kim Jong-un has struck a deal with China to send defectors back to the rogue state to die.
Buses and vans operated and heavily guarded by Chinese security officials were seen moving North Korean deportees from Chinese detention centres to North Korea at border crossings in October.
An investigation from South Korea-based NGO Transitional Justice Working Group revealed how five border crossing points were used by buses and vans for the first time.
Out of 600 defectors, they estimate at least 300 were moved over just one of the border points during the October 9 deportation.
And the NGO fears that as many as 1,500 more detained defectors could be shipped back in the coming months after Pyongyang reopened its borders in August.
The location of the forcibly returned defectors – thought to be 70 per cent women – remains unknown due to information blackhole in North Korea, it said.
Neither China or North Korea have confirmed or denied knowledge of the recent mass deportation.
China responded to concerns raised by Elizabeth Salmon – the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea – and justified its policy of indiscriminate deportation of North Koreans.
China maintains there is no clear evidence of torture or “massive human rights violations” in North Korea – despite all major human rights organisations raising serious concerns.
The Transitional Justice Working Group is now calling on the UK and the US to help stop “many more North Koreans vanishing into the abyss”.
Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group said: “The international silence shrouding the human rights atrocities against the North Korean people must stop.
“We urge the UK and US governments to condemn and take action against China’s recent forcible repatriation to prevent many more North Koreans vanishing into the abyss on their forced return to their homeland.
“We estimate that at least 1,100 more North Koreans are estimated to be held in Chinese detention centres.
“They are ‘sitting ducks’ who could be deported back to the murderous regime which they fled from at any moment.
“The international community must work together to not only ensure both China and North Korea are held accountable for their atrocious actions, but also find a solution to this generational issue.”
Catriona Murdoch, British barrister and partner at Global Rights Compliance added: “Crimes of enforced disappearance torment and plague the families left behind.
“The utter anguish of a life trapped in a Chinese detention centre faced with a forcible repatriation to the dystopic North Korea where they will most likely endure a barbaric fate as punishment for their escape.
“With the international gaze fixed on finding those kidnapped in Gaza, or forcibly transferred into Russia, once again the systematic human rights abuses and international crimes occurring inside North Korea continue unabated and unacknowledged.
“The time has come to speak out, search for the missing, prevent further disappearances and rigorously pursue accountability for those perpetrating such crimes.”
The report comes as the Transitional Justice Working Group hosts an event at the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court in New York with international human rights law firm, Global Rights Compliance.
Kim Kyu spoke at the event of her torment over the fate awaiting her sister Kim Cheol-ok in North Korea.
Cheol-ok is one of the few known North Koreans recently deported back to the country.
She escaped North Korea at the age of 14, at the height of the catastrophic famine in 1998, and settled in a small town in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin.
She was forced into a marriage – set up by a human trafficker – with a Chinese man, and later gave birth to a daughter.
She came to love her family of 25 years – but was abruptly arrested and held on April 5 this year, just months before her granddaughter’s birth.
Kim told The Sun: “My younger sister was arrested by Chinese police in Changchun two hours after leaving home to head towards Thailand.
“She was promptly taken to the Baiyisan Police Station in Jilin Province.
“After being detained for about six months there, she was forcibly repatriated to North Korea on October 9.
“I have no idea where my younger sister currently is or being held.
“I am concerned about the severe punishment, forced labour, and the harsh conditions of cold and hunger my younger sister will face in North Korea.
“All I want is for my sister to be back with her daughter.”
Other defectors forced to return have told how they were tortured and outcast, while living in fear they remain on Kim Jong Un’s “target list.”
It has also been claimed thousand of refugees are secretly living in Britain and the US after escaping the brutal regime.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-unReuters
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