A
group of North Korean defectors arrested last month in China were repatriated
at the beginning of August, according to a diplomatic source.
“The
group was repatriated via the Tumen River at the beginning of this month,” the
source told Daily NK on August 12. He explained that repatriation procedure
times vary but generally proceed a week after being taken into custody.
The
20 defectors, arrested by plainclothes security police in the Shandong and
Yunnan Provinces of China, consist of four families, including a couple in
their 60s, a baby, and others in their 20s and 30s.
Six
Chinese guides assisting the group and a North Korean defector with South
Korean citizenship were also apprehended at the time. “He will face charges in
China but as far as we know will not be repatriated,” the source reported.
This
incident closely follows another group repatriation, thought to have occurred
at the end of July, of 11 people caught in Yanji and the nearby border town of
Tumen.
China
appears to be ramping up efforts to arrest North Korean defectors living there;
the crackdown extends not only to recently defected individuals, but to those
who have resided for longer periods of time in the country.
“They’ve
even arrested women with babies and Chinese husbands,” the source said, adding,
“Security police members who maintain close ties with defectors in the
community have hinted that they should strive to avoid detection for the time
being.”
Pressure
from North Korean authorities in regards to swelling defection figures is
further incentive on China’s part to avoid further exacerbating matters in the
future. A source in China reported signs that the efforts are already underway,
“Provincial and municipal arrest teams have been organized with orders to track
down and arrest North Korean defectors.”
Unlike
other recent measures “this time anyone they arrest will be forcibly
repatriated,” he concluded.
