Beijing's forced repatriation of North Koreans draws criticism_Brothers, help recommend a few dolls with a budget of around $3000

The flags of China and North Korea sit in front of the Yalu River, on the border between the North Korean town of Sinuiju and the Chinese city of Dandong, in China's northeastern Liaoning Province, Sept. 22. Criticism of Beijing is growing over its role in recent mass forced deportations of North Korean refugees. AFP-Yonhap

Suzanne Scholte, a renowned U.S. activist promoting North Korean human rights, has joined in with the criticism against Beijing after its forced repatriation of hundreds of North Koreans, comparing the tragedy to what is unfolding in the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.

“It is extremely cruel and cynical that Xi Jinping appears to have now repatriated another 500 refugees back to North Korea while the world’s attention was on what happened in Israel,” Scholte said in a statement sent to The Korea Times on Monday. “Because of this action, just like families in Israel terrified for the fate of their loved ones abducted by Hamas, we now have Korean families in South Korea and America terrified for worrying about their family members (sent back).”

This comes at a time when rights organizations are raising their voices in criticism of the Chinese government, which resumed the deportation of North Korean escapees on Oct. 9, the day after the end of the Asian Games in Hangzhou. It is unclear how many exactly have been forced to leave China as a result; officials simply say “a large number,” with some activists including Peter Jung claiming more than 2,000 such people, who had been detained over the past three years of the pandemic, were deported.

“What Xi has done is cruel, inhuman, barbaric and illegal,” Scholte said. “Xi knows what China is doing is morally wrong and that it violates their U.N. treaty obligations, specifically the 1951 Convention Relating to Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and the Convention Against Torture.”

She said she would work with other like-minded rights advocates and officials in Washington to impose sanctions on all Chinese officials involved in the decision, adding that they should be held accountable for being complicit in rights violations in North Korea. Those returnees may well face torture, execution or other inhuman treatment for simply crossing the border without permission, according to experts.

Rights groups contacted by The Korea Times said they were drafting a joint statement urging both Seoul and Beijing to resolve the issue, with some planning to hold a rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul on Tuesday.

Apparently out of concern regarding the diplomatic relations with Beijing, top officials and politicians here have been reluctant to directly denounce China’s role in the deportations.

But during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly, Yun Jae-ok, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, called the move “a large-scale human rights violation” in remarks aimed at Beijing’s responsibility.

At a meeting with Julie Turner, a U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, Foreign Minister Park Jin reiterated the ministry’s long-held position opposing forced repatriations and said he would continue diplomatic efforts to help North Korean escapees who are willing to defect to the South.

Turner promised close cooperation, saying “As an international community, we need to come together to work to expose the regime's terrible abuses ... and create concrete change to improve the lives of the North Korean people.”

Asked about the Chinese government’s position on the growing criticism here and overseas, Fang Kun, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, said Beijing “handled the issue according to the domestic laws in China as well as international laws and humanitarian principles.”