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(Shin Yong-bae, "SEOUL URGED TO BRING N.K. DEFECTORS DETAINED IN RUSSIA TO SOUTH KOREA," Seoul, 12/02/99) and Chosun Ilbo (Jung Kwon-hyeon, "SEVEN NK DEFECTORS DETAINED BY RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS," Seoul, 12/01/99)
South Korean civic groups yesterday called on the government to bring seven North Korean defectors detained in Russia to South Korea. The government should block any move (by Russia) to repatriate them to North Korea because they are certain to face execution if sent back, said Lee Sang-jeen, an official at the Committee to Help North Korean Refugees.
He said that, to ensure the defectors' safety, the government should try to bring the North Koreans to Seoul through close consultations with the Russian government. Another civic group, the Citizens' Alliance to Help Political Prisoners in North Korea, recently sent a letter asking Russian President Boris Yeltsin not to send the North Korean defectors back to the North. In the letter, the group expressed hope that the Russian authorities would consider that the defectors had escaped to search for food.
The civic groups' call came in the wake of reports that a seven-member family had defected from North Korea and was in custody after being arrested by Russian security guards for illegally crossing the border. The Russian border police captured the North Korean defectors Nov. 7, and is now investigating the case, said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The family consists of five men, one woman and one child.
According to news reports here, the detainees expressed hope that they could settle in South Korea, as they feared being executed by the North Korean authorities if returned there. The reports said officials from Russian and North Korea were holding negotiations over repatriation.
South Korean ministry officials expressed optimism that the defectors would not face forced repatriation, saying officials at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently interviewed them to decide whether to grant them official refugee status. "We believe the matter will be settled as the defectors wished", the official said, who asked not to be identified.