Refugees International: Publications: North Koreans in China: A Human Rights Analysis

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North Koreans in China: A Human Rights Analysis

02/24/2005

In this article, Refugees International's vice president Joel Charny describes the dire situation for North Koreans in China, and argues that Chinese officials should enact specific policies to protect North Koreans in their country.

China's policy of considering all North Koreans to be illegal economic migrants clearly impacts the lives of individuals who have crossed the border to assure their survival. RI has found that the majority of North Koreans in China do qualify for refugee status on the grounds of the differentiated access to public goods in North Korea, which is determined by political criteria, and of the harsh punishments meted out to all North Koreans who are deported from China.

China could help resolve this situation through several options, including quietly halting all arrests and deportations of North Koreans who pose no threat to public safety or granting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees access to North Koreans in China for the purpose of conducting individual refugee status determinations.

The article was recently published in the International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2004.

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