Starting in August, police in Kunming, Yunnan Province, will be stepping up efforts to prevent defectors in the area from heading to South Korea, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in China told Daily NK on Monday that “from August until early October, police in Kunming will be focused on identifying those suspected of trying to cross the southern border. Orders have come down internally within China’s police agencies to concentrate efforts on North Korean defectors in China who are attempting to head to South Korea.”
Many defectors in China pass through the Southeast Asian countries of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand on their way to South Korea, so police have been instructed to focus their efforts on cities located in southern China. Orders to crackdown on defections in these areas are currently being carried out by local police agencies, the source said.
“Public security authorities in Kunming have ordered officers to inspect the IDs of any groups of more than two or three people traveling within the city center or side streets. They have also ordered police to set up additional checkpoints or dispatch patrol vehicles to inspect the identities of all passengers in vehicles heading to neighboring Southeast Asian countries or the southern border more generally.”
According to the source, police in Kunming were instructed to “immediately arrest any North Korean nationals and detain them at the nearest precinct station, after which they will be transferred to a detention center for repatriation to North Korea.”
Many North Koreans in China have already illegally crossed the China-North Korean border, but the Chinese police have generally turned a blind eye so long as the defectors keep a low profile.
Presently, however, Kunming police are treating defectors who abandon their Chinese families and attempt another illegal border crossing to get to South Korea as unforgivable criminals who must be mercilessly repatriated back to North Korea.
China tightens security due to upcoming Asian Games
According to the source, the recent order to stop defectors from heading to South Korea is part of broader efforts to tighten security in the run-up to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which are set to start in September.
“Defectors heading to South Korea will need to be extraordinarily careful passing through Kunming around the time of the Hangzhou Asian Games,” he said.
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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