ICC Note:

China has arrested two pastors from South Korea and accused them of smuggling people out of North Korea into China. This follows the arrest of 32 South Korean missionaries earlier this year that work along the border of North Korea in China. Tensions between South Korea and China are especially high after South Korea has allowed the US to install an anti-missile system to deter attacks from North Korea. China repatriates North Korean defectors who are found in their country to North Korea. Once returned, they are usually imprisoned, tortured, or even executed.

3/20/2017 China (Reuters) – Chinese authorities have arrested two South Korean Christian pastors, accusing them of helping to smuggle North Korean defectors out of China, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday.

The arrests come amid tension between South Korea and China over the latter’s vociferous objections to the deployment in South Korea of a U.S. missile defense system that China says will destabilize the balance of security in the region.

South Korea and the United States say the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is aimed solely at defending the South against a growing North Korean missile threat.

…