10 N. Korean defectors left S. Korean consulate in China: activist

By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- About 10 North Korean defectors voluntarily left the South Korean consulate in China last month in their own bid to reach Seoul via a risky route through Southeast Asia, an activist said Monday.
Four women have since ended up in an immigration detention center in Thailand, but about six others are in hiding in China out of fear of being arrested by Chinese police, the activist said on the condition of anonymity, citing the issue's sensitivity.
The unprecedented move comes out of frustration that defectors are being held in the South Korean diplomatic mission in Beijing for years before being allowed to go to Seoul, mostly via Southeast Asian countries.
China has drastically reduced the number of North Korean defectors from the South Korean mission who can leave each week in recent years, causing a backlog of them at the consulate.
South Korea's foreign ministry denied the allegation by the activist, though it said it is making efforts to quickly bring to Seoul North Korean defectors who enter South Korean missions.
China has intensified crackdowns on North Korean defectors by viewing them as economic migrants, and has repatriated them back to the North, where they could face harsh punishment and even execution.
Still, tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, a major land route through which many North Koreans travel to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.
One of the four women stayed in the consulate for about four years before leaving the diplomatic compound last month to find her own way to South Korea, according to the activist.
The activist said their move to leave the consulate came after South Korea's defense minister allegedly agreed with his Chinese counterpart to quickly bring home family members of a South Korean prisoner of war who had been at the mission for just several months.
South Korea estimates about 500 South Korean soldiers were taken prisoner during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Some of them have since escaped North Korea and entered South Korean diplomatic missions in China before being allowed to return to Seoul.
The activist said his group plans to file a complaint with the state-run human rights watchdog this week over what he claims is the government's negligence of duty.
entropy@yna.co.kr