Photo : YONHAP News
A British parliamentary group focused on North Korean issues sent a letter to the British foreign secretary, calling for attention and response to China’s forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees.
David Alton and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the co-chairs of the United Kingdom All-Party Parliamentary Group(APPG) on North Korea, sent the letter to UK foreign secretary David Cameron on behalf of the group’s 20 members.
In the letter, which was released to the public on Thursday, the lawmakers said that China has continued the forcible repatriation of North Korean defectors for some 20 years, leading to the detention of hundreds of thousands of people in North Korean prison camps and the violation of their human rights.
The lawmakers urged China to uphold international law, adhere to the principle of non-refoulement, and fulfill its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention by facilitating a safe passage for refugees to transit through third countries and finally reach South Korea.
Mentioning the case of Kim Kyu-li, a North Korean defector in Britain, who has called for help to save her sister in China, the group requested for the foreign secretary to meet with Kim and its co-chairs.