South Korean actor Cha In-pyo, second from left, with 30 other celebrities, delivers a speech during a rally against the Chinese government’s plan to repatriate North Korean refugees, near the Chinese Embassy in Seoul yesterday. The protesters called for China not to send the refugees back, saying they could be executed. [NEWSIS]

South Korea is considering taking issue with China’s forceful repatriation of North Korean defectors at a UN dialogue on human rights next week. Seoul is putting more pressure on Beijing over the hot-button issue despite concern over a setback in the 20-year bilateral relations.

“So far, we have urged the Chinese to send North Korean defectors to a third country with respect for their free will from a humanitarian point of view,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Cho Byung-jae told a media briefing yesterday. “Adding to these efforts, we are considering raising this issue at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council.”

The United Nations Human Rights Council conference opens a four-week session in Geneva on Monday. South Korea has never raised the issue at the UN conference, although it has called for humanitarian treatment of North Korean defectors at the UN General Assembly.

The government may discuss inserting wording in a concluding statement at the conference that expresses the opposition to the forcible repatriation of the North Korean defectors, according to a diplomatic source. Seoul remains indecisive, however, as to whether it will mention China directly, the source said.

The move is a follow-up to Seoul’s plan to gain China’s cooperation on the issue with two international treaties of which China is a member.

A high-ranking official of the ministry said on Sunday that the government will start reminding China that it is required to abide by the 1951 and 1987 treaties banning repatriating refugees or others to territories where they would be put at risk of losing their lives or being tortured.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed outright discontent with it and said it can’t accept Seoul’s logic.

“We are dealing with the issue of North Korean defectors according to international law, domestic law and humanitarian principles,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei during a media briefing, reiterating the country’s long-standing position.

Seoul’s divergence from its traditional “quiet diplomacy” toward China appears to reflect its increasing frustration with Beijing’s tilting toward Pyongyang over the recent years, in particular since the emergence of new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is known to be cracking down on North Korean defectors.

A group, calling itself “people in the era of unification,” said in a statement yesterday that there are signs of a massive joint crackdown on North Korean defectors in recent months, with around 2,000 North Korean security agents and 7,000 Chinese agents observed to be dispatched to China-North Korea border areas.

Once repatriated, North Korean defectors face the risk of being executed or put in inhumane conditions in remote political prisons, many North Korean defectors in the South have witnessed.

Human rights advocates in the South and other countries are also stepping up pressure on China, specifically over China’s alleged plan to repatriate a group of North Koreans held in custody whose existence was disclosed this month. Both Beijing and Seoul are yet to confirm the exact number of the defectors in China put at risk of immediate repatriation.

Park Sun-young, a lawmaker with the Liberty Forward Party, who has long spoken out over the issue, embarked on an indefinite hunger strike yesterday, requesting China suspend the forcible repatriation of the defectors.

Around 30 South Korean celebrities and 30 teenage North Korean defectors from Yeomyung School, a school in Seoul set up for North Korean defectors, also held a rally yesterday in front of the Chinese Embassy in Hyoja-dong, central Seoul.

At a press conference during the rally, Cha In-pyo, a South Korean actor, said the celebrities gathered to represent the voices of many North Korean defectors who are afraid their public appearance would risk their families still in the North.

By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사

"탈북자 강제 북송 막아주세요"…연예인들도 거리로


[앵커]

강제 북송 위기에 놓인 탈북자들을 도와달라는 집회가 서울 도심에서 열렸습니다. 방송인 이성미씨와 탤런트 차인표씨도 북한 동포를 구해달라고 호소했습니다.

이주찬 기자가 현장취재했습니다. 함께 보시죠.

[기자]

주한중국대사관 근처에 있는 한 교회 앞 입니다.

이곳에선 현재 중국에 머물고 있는 탈북자들의 강제 북송을 막아달라는 집회가 열리고 있는데요.

탈북자들이 북한으로 강제 송환된다면 가혹한 처벌은 물론 자칫 목숨을 잃을 위험한 상황이라고 보기 때문입니다.

현장에는 낯익은 얼굴들도 많이 보이는데요. 이야기를 들어 보겠습니다.

[차인표/배우 : 국민의 한 사람으로서 아버지, 어머니 마음으로 나왔어요. 사람 살리고 싶어서…물에 빠져 죽어가는 사람 (북한에) 돌려 보내면 죽인다는데 가만히 보고 있어야 되겠습니까.]

오늘(21일) 집회에는 연예인들도 20여명이 나와 탈북자들의 안전을 기원했습니다.

이들이 동참하게 된 데에는 방송인 이성미씨의 역할이 컸습니다.

[이성미/방송인 : 연예인들이 같이 하자 그래서 나왔고요. 차인표씨와 미리 만나서 조용하게 마음만 전달하자고 해서 한거예요.]

이날 집회에는 중국 정부의 책임 있는 조치를 요구하는 목소가 이어졌습니다..

[조명숙/여명학교(탈북자대안학교) 교감 : 이제는 밥 한끼 먹자는 꿈이 변해서 제발 지금 잡힌 친구들이 죽지 않았으면 좋겠다….]

[박선영/자유선진당 의원 : 우리 정부는 아직까지 얘기가 없고 중국은 버티고 서서 변화가 없고 이런 것들을 보면서 우리 국민이 조금 더 관심을 가졌으면…]

위기에 처한 북한 동포들. 남한의 각계 인사들이 강제 송환을 막아달라고 호소하고 있습니다. [JTBC]