Laos in May deported nine North Korean refugees to China, from where they were forcibly repatriated to North Korea, where they could face detention, torture and even execution as ‘illegal defectors’.
The nine North Koreans, aged 15-23, arrived in Laos around May 10 and were on their way to South Korea when they were caught by the Lao authorities. According to reports, the South Korean embassy in Vientiane requested that the refugees be transferred into their custody. However, on May 27 the embassy heard that the group had been deported to China. On May 29, a senior South Korean foreign ministry official said that they judged that the refugees were repatriated to North Korea on May 28.
The news that the nine had been deported from Laos to China, apparently in the custody of North Korean officials, shocked members of the South Korean government and international observers. In the past, Laos has complied with the wishes of North Korean refugees and the South Korean embassy by allowing refugees to travel on to Seoul. In this case, it appears that North Korean officials were closely involved in the process of identifying and questioning the refugees.
