Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                 Laos Deports 9 North Korean Defectors to China

   by VOA News

   Laos has sent back to China nine North Koreans who fled their
   impoverished homeland. The deportation raises fears the defectors may
   be repatriated by Beijing to North Korea, where they are likely to face
   harsh punishment.
   A South Korean source who works with defectors and who had been in
   contact with the nine North Koreans confirmed to VOA they were flown
   from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to Kunming in southwest China on
   Monday.
   South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier reported on the defectors, who
   it said were 15 to 23 years old. Quoting an anonymous South Korean
   foreign ministry official, the report said Laos "unexpectedly" rejected
   the South's plea to send them to Seoul.
   Laos, along with other Southeast Asian countries, is a common
   destination for North Korean defectors, most of whom escape through
   China before eventually resettling in South Korea.
   Despite protests from rights groups, China routinely repatriates the
   refugees to North Korea. Beijing considers them illegal migrants who
   fled for economic reasons rather than because they faced political
   persecution.
   The refugees often face dire punishment if returned to the North.
   Reports of those who have been forcibly repatriated tell of beatings,
   torture, forced labor and sexual violence.
   Thousands of North Koreans have defected to the South since famine
   crippled agricultural production in their homeland in the past decade.
   Those reaching Chinese territory often do so with the help of
   activists, missionaries or smugglers.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/laos-deports-9-north-korean-defectors
   -to-china/1669651.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/laos-deports-9-north-korean-defectors-to-china/1669651.html