ICC NOTE: Thousands of North Koreans, some Christian and other religious minorities, have taken the risk of fleeing into China. For a time, China has looked the other way for many with the occasional group being repatriated to North Korea. However, it appears China will be clamping down harder on refugees entering the country as financial incentives have been put into place for the public. If Chinese citizens provide information and or present a North Korean refugee for repatriation they will receive monetary compensation. For those protecting or helping refugees, a fine of 3,000 Yuan will be implemented upon them. Those who are repatriated to North Korea are immediately interrogated over their time in China and sent to the political prison camps if they are not executed on the spot. 

8/17/2016 China-North Korea (Asia News) – After a period of relative tolerance, the Chinese government has tightened the “hunt” for North Koreans fleeing the dictatorship in Pyongyang. The border authorities near the Tumen River – the border that divides China and North Korea – have issued a “bounty list” related to refugees: anyone who reports on refugees gets 1000 yuan (about 120 euro); anyone who personally captures a refugee is rewarded with twice that amount. Those who help a refugee and are discovered will have to pay a fine of 3 thousand yuan. The border guards have also been ordered to shoot fugitives on sight.

The North Koreans who choose to flee face a very high risk. Forced to pass first through China, since the border with South is highly militarized, in case of arrest they will be subject to forced repatriation: Beijing has signed an agreement with Pyongyang that defines these refugees “economic migrants” and does not grant them any mitigating policy. So if captured, they will be sent home, where they risk the death penalty or a decade of hard labor for “treason”.

With the passing of time and with the deterioration of the internal situation, the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has tightened punishments reserved for refugees even more: in 2012, the first year of his “reign” following the death of his father Kim Jong-il, only 1,502 North Koreans fled to the South against an average of 3 thousand registered every year until then. In 2013 the fugitives were in total 1,514. However, these data are partial, since it is impossible to determine how many North Koreans choose to remain without documents, in China.

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