Diplomat blasts China for withholding data on defector deportations

Diplomat blasts China for withholding data on defector deportations. February. 21, 2012 00:52. shcho@donga.com.

South Korea`s ambassador to China Lee Kyu-hyung blasted Beijing Monday for its handling of North Korean defectors caught by Chinese public security and facing the risk of repatriation to the North.

Ambassador Lee told reporters in Seoul while attending the annual meeting of heads of South Korean missions overseas, "The Chinese government is not providing accurate information," adding, "We`re checking the accuracy of information on the issue, but we cannot know the real situation because the Chinese government has neither confirmed nor denied anything."

The veteran diplomat has served as spokesman and vice minister of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry and ambassador to Russia, and for an ambassador to directly criticize the government of the country he or she is stationed in is quite unusual.

Lee`s comments seem to reflect increased tension between South Korea and China in recent weeks due to Beijing`s move to repatriate defectors to the North.

"China only announces the three main principles for resolution based on domestic law, humanitarianism and international laws when addressing the issue of North Korean defectors, and declines to inform the results even if defectors have been repatriated," adding, "Instead, Beijing has even demanded that we regulate non-governmental organizations that intentionally produce North Korean defectors."

Seoul urged Beijing Sunday to stop repatriating defectors in accordance with international treaties, including those on refugees and torture prevention. "This constitutes the right of a country concerned to recognize (defectors) as refugees, and China only considers defectors as people who illegally scaled the border," Lee said, predicting the measure will have little effect.

"Though there have been no exchange of visits by ranking officials between North Korea and China this year, they have communicated with each other through embassies. Senior Chinese officials attended a reception at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing to mark the 70th birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (Thursday)."

Kim Sook, head of the South Korean mission to the U.N., also told reporters, "We will continue to make efforts to ensure that North Korean defectors in China are not repatriated to the North and can settle in South Korea as they want."