[Interview] US urges China to play role to stop human rights abuses in North Korea

Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, speaks during a meeting with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan at the foreign ministry in Seoul, April 7. Yonhap

US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim voices concerns about China's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The United States will continue its diplomatic efforts to build pressure on China to scrap its forced repatriation of North Korean refugees as the brutal policy has resulted in unspeakable human rights violations of those returned to the North, according to a U.S. nuclear envoy.

"We are concerned by reports that potentially hundreds of North Koreans are detained in the PRC and will face forced repatriation when the border reopens," Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, said in a written interview with The Korea Times on Friday.

The PRC stands for the People's Republic of China.

Kim, who concurrently serves as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, said the U.S. government has raised North Korea-related issues at "almost every recent senior-level engagement" with China, including meetings and phone calls conducted by President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the nation to play a constructive role to settle the problems.

The U.S. nuclear envoy made the remarks after a Korea Times report that hundreds of North Korean refugees detained in China would be sent back to the North when the border reopens.

It remains uncertain when North Korea will ease or lift its border closure but some experts predict it to happen after April 15, the birthday of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung who is the grandfather of its current leader Kim Jong-un.

China's massive repatriation, if it becomes a reality, will likely trigger a humanitarian crisis as North Korea is notorious for its brutal treatment of citizens who were repatriated after their failed attempts to flee the totalitarian state.

Ambassador Kim said China's forced repatriation makes the North Korean escapees vulnerable to human rights abuses in their home country.

"The PRC continues to consider North Koreans who flee to China or defect while working in China to be illegal 'economic migrants' rather than refugees or asylum seekers," Kim said. "As such, they are subject to detention and forced repatriation to the DPRK, where they are vulnerable to harsh punishments including torture, forced abortions, forced labor or even death."

The DPRK is an acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, better known as North Korea.

The U.S. envoy underlined the State Department's diplomatic efforts to raise such cases with the Chinese government, calling on Beijing to uphold its obligations under the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol and the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Sung Kim, right, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, poses with his South Korean counterpart Kim Gunn, center, and Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi, prior to their meeting at the foreign ministry in Seoul, April 7. Yonhap

On top of bilateral diplomacy, he said the U.S. has raised the issue of North Korea's human rights violations through multilateral diplomacy.

"The United States believes DPRK human rights issues belong on the formal U.N. Security Council agenda," he said.

"To that end, the United States worked with allies and partners, including Republic of Korea, Japan and Albania, to convene an informal, Arria-formula meeting of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members on March 17 to raise DPRK human rights issues, including transnational repression."

Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the North, and James Turpin, chief of the prevention and sustaining peace session at the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, were also invited to the Arria-formula meeting, named after Venezuelan diplomat and former UNSC President Diego Arria.

Two unidentified North Korean defectors were also present and testified to their sufferings in the North, according to the United Nations.

The informal UNSC meeting was held to highlight the ongoing violations of human rights in North Korea and underscore how these abuses are linked with the threats to peace and security posed by North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, according to the United Nations.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) in 2013 to investigate the systemic and widespread human rights violations in North Korea. A year later, the COI issued a report that characterized North Korea's human rights violations as "crimes against humanity."

Kim stressed that human rights are at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

"For decades, the United States has championed efforts to promote respect for the human rights and dignity of North Koreans, including members of the most vulnerable populations," he said.

He said Washington will continue bolstering its efforts to prevent North Korea's further human rights violations.

"We continue to work with the international community to raise awareness of DPRK human rights issues, document violations and abuses, counter acts of DPRK transnational repression, urge respect for the principle of non-refoulement and increase the flow of independent information into, within and out of the DPRK," he said.