11 North Koreans, detained by Chinese
border control units near the border of Laos, are in grave danger of
repatriation, YTN reported on August 12th.
The group consists of mostly those in their
20s and 30s, including one 4 year-old child. They escaped from Bocheon,
Yangkang Province to Tsiingtao, Shandong Province on August 7th, and made their
way to Kunming,Yunnan Province on August 10th. At 11 A.M. the following day,
they boarded a bus headed to Laos but were caught by Chinese border guards at a
checkpoint on the morning of August 12th.
One member of the group managed to send a
covert text message to a North Korean acquaintance already settled in the South,
explaining that they had been apprehended.
The group is being held at an undisclosed
location with no verifiable details as to whether they are in the custody of
Chinese public security forces or local police. However, the group’s ultimate
destination being South Korea, the probability of repatriation is high.
Experts have
urged diplomatic efforts be made on the defectors’ behalf as
soon as possible, citing the severe punishments the groups faces if
repatriated.
This incident closely follows the recent
repatriation of 20 North Koreans caught
in the Shandong and Yunnan Provinces of China,
thought to have occurred at the
beginning on August. The end of July saw another group repatriation, that time
a group of 11 people, caught in Yanji
and the nearby border town of Tumen.
