Refoulement/Physical Protection
China deported as many as 5,000 North Koreans, deporting as many as 100 a week during crackdowns. Incidents of refoulement decreased in 2005, as the North Korean population was significantly smaller than its peak in the late 1990s. Authorities deported a group of asylum seekers who reached a South Korean school, as well as a group they arrested for trying to enter a Japanese compound.
The starvation that some fled was largely politically motivated, as North Korea withheld food from as much as a quarter of the population that it deemed hostile. North Korea also punished returned defectors with detention, forced labor, torture, and possibly execution if they had met with non-Chinese foreigners or Christians outside the country. As the North Korean government’s motives for such severe punishment appeared to be political, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) considered North Koreans in China to be prima facie refugees.
China allowed passage to South Korea via a third country only to those who gained public attention and the protection of a foreign embassy or consulate. These cases, however, also resulted in crackdowns and tightened security near the border. China also denied the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) access to its northeastern border with North Korea.
Several hundred thousand Vietnamese refugees, mostly of Chinese ethnicity, remained in China, where the Government allowed them most of the rights of nationals, but granted neither citizenship nor permanent status. These refugees entered China during and after the Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979. In Hong Kong, some 1,000 refugees of both Chinese and Vietnamese ethnicity remained. Those whom UNHCR recognized applied for Hong Kong identification cards and would be eligible for permanent status within seven years.
China permitted a small number of asylum seekers of other nationalities to remain, mostly in Hong Kong, while UNHCR determined their status and sought to resettle them. While awaiting resettlement, refugees received a subsistence allowance from UNHCR the Government neither allowed them to work nor to enroll their children in schools.
Detention/Access to Courts
The Government harassed, detained, and deported many North Korean asylum seekers. Authorities raided safe houses that held refugees preparing to enter foreign consulates and compounds in Beijing and arrested others trying to enter the compounds. They detained and deported most of them but some secured release by paying fines of $250 to $600 (RMB2,000 to RMB5,000). Authorities also arrested, detained, and deported foreign journalists, missionaries, and activists, as well as some Chinese citizens who assisted North Korean refugees. They fined Chinese citizens $120 (RMB1,000) for sheltering North Korean refugees, and offered bounties to those who turned them in.
Freedom of Movement and Residence
Vietnamese refugees had freedom of movement within the country but North Koreans did not. A small fraction of North Koreans managed to use networks of safe houses and friendly groups to make their way through China to Mongolia or Southeast Asia. During 2005, nearly 1,400 North Koreans successfully escaped to South Korea, the majority of whom traveled through China.
Right to Earn a Livelihood
China allowed Vietnamese but not other refugees or asylum seekers of other nationalities to work and to own property. The inability to work legally forced many North Korean women in China to depend on relationships with Chinese men to survive, which they formed either directly or through brokers or traffickers. China neither recognized the marriages nor granted the children Chinese citizenship, rendering them stateless. Some North Korean women found work as domestic servants, but forced prostitution was a risk. A few North Korean men found work as day laborers.
The 1996 Provisions on Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China prohibited citizens and businesses from employing foreigners, with no exception for refugees, but allowed special units from the Government to apply to the Ministry of Labor for work permits on behalf of foreigners. The fine for an employer sheltering illegal workers was $3,600 (RMB30,000). Authorities could issue permits only for special jobs for which no domestic workers were available and required certificates of qualification, labor contracts, and verifications of the demand in the labor market. Foreign workers also had to possess employment visas and foreign resident certificates. Any foreigner wishing to change employers had to go through the process again. The law was not applicable in Hong Kong or Macao.
Public Relief and Education
China arrested at least two NGO workers for aiding North Korean refugees: a former North Korean refugee with South Korean citizenship in February, and a Korean-American in May. Authorities held both in Yanji PSB Detention Center at year’s end.
China granted Vietnamese refugees public assistance and education on par with nationals but denied these services to refugees and asylum seekers of other nationalities. UNHCR gave small stipends to some but did not have access to most North Koreans. Many who crossed the border received supplies from refugee support agencies before returning to their families in North Korea. China collaborated with UNHCR on a credit program that provided loans to state-run farms and businesses to encourage hiring Vietnamese refugees.
