- Small boat with defectors apprehended
- Defections challenging in North Korea
- China repatriates defectors, concerns
A small boat transporting North Korean defectors who allegedly entered South Korean waters has been apprehended, according to Seoul’s military.
Challenges of Defections
It was detected on the South Korean side of the maritime boundary between the two Koreas, the Northern Limit Line.
The four individuals on board were “presumed to have defected” from North Korea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Tightened Border Controls
Defections have encountered a growing challenge since the ascension to power of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2011.
Additionally, border controls have been further tightened since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Treatment and Relocation
The South Korean government withheld additional information regarding the four North Koreans who were aboard the wooden vessel.
A group of nine North Koreans was rescued by the coast guard in May after they crossed the western sea boundary in a fishing vessel.
Pretenders for Northern defection are customarily apprehended and interrogated for a maximum duration of one month, with the purpose of determining their underlying motivations for escaping.
They are then relocated to Hanawon, a center for resettlement in South Korea, where they are prepared for life there.
China’s Repatriation
Seoul announced this month that Beijing repatriated a “significant number” of North Korean defectors against their will. Human rights organizations reported that up to 600 North Koreans were returned to the North, where they risk incarceration, sexual assault, or even murder.
Refugee status is not accorded to North Korean defectors by China. It maintains its position that they are “economic migrants” and has a policy of repatriating them, notwithstanding appeals from human rights organizations and foreign governments to reassess its position.
