Caught one after another in Shenyang between the 8th and the 12th of February.
Chinese Public Security Bureau plans complete repatriation by the 20th.
Families within South Korea appeal for urgent aid on the basis of human rights.
[Donga Ilbo]
It has been reported that 31 DPRK defectors have been arrested by Chinese security forces and are at risk of deportation to the DPRK. This is the first mass arrest of defectors in China since the North Korean authorities used the launch of Kim Jong Un's regime to publically declare that the families of defectors will be exterminated up to three generations.
According to activists within China, at 6pm on the 8th of this month, 12 defectors (four male, eight female) were arrested and held at the Shenhe Public Security Bureau office in Shenyang, Liaoning, after leaving Yanji, Jilin en route to third countries. Among them were two Chinese security agents disguised as brother and sister. At the same time in other parts of Shenyang another 9 individuals were arrested and sent to Yanji. It has also been reported that in Shenyang over the weekend and on the 12th a further group of 7, and a group of 5 were arrested and sent to Changchun. Chinese security forces were said to have tracked the defectors since their departure, and two meetings were held by Chinese public security officials with their DPRK counterparts on the 12th and 13th. Chinese officials are known to have told the defectors that they will be entirely repatriated by the 20th at the latest.
The DPRK in December of last year made a mass declaration to citizens that "during the mourning period for Kim Jong Il, the punishment for defectors shall be the extermination of three generations of family." The official 100 day mourning period extends to the end of March. It is being confirmed that a significant number of those arrested on this occasion defected following the death of Kim Jong Il. A source within North Korea has reported "Recently repatriated individuals have a high likelihood of being sent to the Hambuk Suseong political prison, considered the worst concentration camp, while a number may be sent to their home towns and publically executed as an example to others. It is believed that the Suseong prison has separate confinement facilities for minors.
Despite attempts by South Korean authorities to negotiate with the Chinese for release of the defectors to South Korea, they have as yet seem to have had no success. On the 13th, family members living in South Korea related to the arrested defectors appealed to the National Human Rights Commission for urgent aid.
Reported by Ju Seong-ha.
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