China's Double-standard on North Korean Asylum Seekers

Mr. Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was right to say reportedly
that North Koreans "who cross the border illegally are not refugees" as they have entered
China "for economic reasons."

But, we are not asking China to treat them as "refuges" outright. We are asking China,
instead, to allow legitimate steps to be taken, before turning them over to North Korea
forcibly, to determine whether they are qualified as "refuges"
by allowing the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to
interview them in person and, in case they are found qualified as refuges,
allow them to go to countries of their own choices.

Mr. Hong Lei should realize the fact that, unless China take these steps, she
is manifestly prohibited from "expelling, returning ("refouler") or extraditing"
any of them "to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he (or she) would be in danger of being subjected to torture" under Article 3.1 of the "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" to which China is a party signatory.

Mr. Hong Lei should know that what is critically at stake here is whether
China is qualified to perform a leadership role in the international community
of nations. China will be shamed if she persists in extraditing the North Korean asylum
seekers to North Korea which is a country notoriously famed for its "consistent pattern of
gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights," without allowing to be subjected to
humanitarian procedures obligated under the international
human rights covenants.

What is more, China should not turn a deaf ear to the well-publicized North Korean threat
that, when caught, those North Koreans having sought to become asylum seekers by
leaving North Korea without permission would be subject to
the all too anachronistic ancient punishment of "purging three generations of their families." We want China to stay away from committing the crime against
the humanity by holding to a self-contradictory double-standard in dealing
with the North Korean asylum seekers rounded up while being in the Chinese territory. .