Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Economic Migrants or Political Asylum Seekers?

China defends the repatriations [of North Korean refugees back to North Korea] by claiming that the refugees are "economic migrants".

“Yet as soon as a North Korean crosses the border, they immediately fit the definition of a political asylum seeker because it is a crime against the state for a North Korean to leave the country.

“We know from eyewitness testimony that when North Koreans are repatriated they are subjected to harsh sentences, in some cases they are executed.”

--Suzanne Scholte U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

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