Help the Refugees Who Reach China

WASHINGTON North Koreans fleeing deprivation and political oppression in their homeland suffer in isolation and silence, their plight a sideshow to the greater drama of nuclear politics.

Some 50,000 North Koreans are in China, having fled their country to escape persecution, starvation and forced labor. But rather than treating them as refugees, with a right to remain in China and to receive humanitarian assistance, China regards them as illegal economic migrants and regularly arrests and deports them.

Finding a way to change China's treatment of North Koreans is a humanitarian and human-rights challenge that merits greater action by the United States, South Korea and other members of the international community.

Under the political system created by the North Korean government, there is no meaningful way to separate economic deprivation from political persecution. Indeed, not since the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia has a government succeeded in creating such an all-encompassing system of oppression.

The North Koreans in China live in constant fear of arrest and deportation. Women and children are especially vulnerable. North Korean women seek to establish relationships with Chinese men to survive, and many are in effect sold to Chinese men or to the owners of brothels and karaoke bars. Few children are able to attend school, and many spend their lives indoors for fear of being arrested if they venture out.

North Koreans who are deported face terrible consequences. They are subject to punishments ranging from several months in a labor training center to long prison terms and even execution. Conditions in the labor training centers and prisons are harsh; food rations are minimal and the work-load is brutal. No medical care is available, and prisoners too ill to work are often released so that they do not die in custody.

Any campaign to protect North Koreans in China has to start by insisting that Beijing honor its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and allow the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees unimpeded access to the North Koreans in China.

China is likely to continue rejecting UNHCR involvement in what the government claims is an internal matter. But there are still steps the Chinese could take, from halting the deportations of North Koreans to granting legal residence for spouses of Chinese citizens and their children. China could go further and grant North Koreans indefinite humanitarian status and provide them with a special resident visa if they have employment and shelter.

China is unlikely to take these minimum steps unless concerned countries pursue a more serious and persistent diplomatic strategy with Beijing.

The Bush administration, for example, should consider the quiet appointment of a senior envoy to engage government officials on this issue. If the Chinese authorities hear consistent messages of concern about the plight of North Korea refugees in their country, they may be persuaded to halt the arrests and deportations. South Korea can also help by showing a greater willingness to accept North Koreans for resettlement.

The plight of North Koreans forced to flee must not be forgotten amid the efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the tensions in northeast Asia.