In the 32 years of establishing diplomatic relations between South Korea and China, no one can deny that it has achieved quite rich development results as a whole, but there are also shadows.The mandatory repatriation problem around China ’s north (escape from North Korea) is one of them.Recently, with the report of the Chinese government forcibly repatriated the "escape from the North", it caused tension from the South Korean government and the people and the international community.After the Hangzhou Asian Games ended in October last year, China immediately raid the repatriation of about 500 to 600 to the north who had been blocked by the epidemic for three years, and forcibly repatriated about 50 or 60 northern people at the end of March this year.This is a kind of signal ammunition that formally forcibly repatriated the north, which is worrying.
Although the South Korean government has not publicly responded to the compulsory repatriation of China, it insists on the basic position, that is, under any circumstances, they cannot violate the free repatriation of those who stay in the north from overseas.In particular, after Yin Xiyue's government came to power, it was different from the past that expressed clear accusations about the human rights situation of North Korea.In February of this year, South Korean and foreign ministers on telephone talks, South Korean foreign minister Zhao Danlie asked China to not force the repatriation of the north, but assisted them to go to the place where they wanted.At the talks of South Korea and China and Foreign Minister held in Beijing on May 13th, his old things were repeated, and it was also based on these policy changes.Yin Xiyue held the Korean Central Summit at the Korean -Japanese -China -China summit meeting held on May 26 and 27 at Seoul, and once again stated that the South Korean government's concerns about the issue.This means that in the past, the people -dominated North North Policy have officially become government policies.
According to the constitution of the Republic of Korea, the northern parties also belong to the nationals of the Republic of Korea.The South Korean Constitution clearly stipulates that "the territory of the Republic of Korea is the Korean Peninsula and its affiliated islands", so it is a Korean resident, including the North Korean residents, and the nationals of the Republic of Korea in the Constitution.The folk group South Korea's North Korea Human Rights Information Center (NKDB) speculates that there are more than 10,000 people living in China.According to Human Rights Watch and Special Reports of Human Rights in North Korea, about 2,000 of them have been detained in many facilities in China.
The problem is that the Chinese government does not recognize the "refugee" status of the north.The so -called refugees refer to people who fled abroad or elsewhere in order to avoid political and ideological persecution.China believes that the north who came to China escaped to avoid temporary economic difficulties such as North Korea's grain difficulties, so they insisted that they could not be regarded as refugees.Therefore, the problem of the northern North and North Korea is regarded as a problem between China and North Korea, and the participation of third countries and international institutions, including South Korea.In particular, China believes that the cause of the North Korean event lies in North Korea's grain difficulty, so the South Korean government and the international community should solve the grain and economic assistance to North Korea.China then advocated that some of the non -governmental groups and religious groups in South Korea illegally helped to help the North North, which seriously damaged China's social stability and national security.
China has an obligation to have international law
Although it can understand some of China's positions, it is reasonable for South Korea and the international community to take a certain degree of responsibility to China.Because China joined the refugee convention as early as 1982, it approved the torture convention in 1988, and in 1992, it also signed the refugee agreement.From this point of view, China has obviously become a "human rights" state that has become the principle of international law. Of course, it is necessary to follow the "providing asylum to refugees, not being expelled or forced to be repatriated to the nationality country that might be persecuted, and it has obliged to protect refugees."Non-reference "is not appropriate.
Nevertheless, China believes that it is unreasonable to blame China to protect the liability of the north, and it has always advocated that the repatriation of the north has no problem at all.There are related laws such as the Safe and Criminals signed by China and North Korea in 1960 and the criminals and criminals and the maintenance of the security and social order signed by the border areas signed in 1986, as well as the Jilin Provincial Border Management Regulations in 1998.China is detained in accordance with these regulations and detention of illegal cross -border and immigrants and repatriated according to the terms of repatriation. Therefore, there are no problems in law.However, although there are no major problems in law, China has ignored some procedure problems.
First of all, the initial reasons for Chinese people who thought they were separated from North Korea were economic reasons, so it was not applicable to the principle of "Refugee Sur Place", which was "after -the -time situation" stipulated in the International Refugee Law.Because of admitting the identity of refugees, the important thing is not the reason when leaving the country, but the reason that cannot be returned to its country, or the reason for not being willing to return to its country.The United Nations refugee agency also emphasized that even after the "Non-Refugees", after being forcibly sent back to the country, if it is in danger, the scope of refugees can be expanded to "de facto refugees" or "humanitarian refugees"EssenceAlthough the reasons for the initial escape from North North Korea were not listed by the refugee cooperation, once they were repatriated, they would be sentenced to more than five years of labor education and life in accordance with Article 47 and 62 of the North Korean Criminal Law.Labor education and death penalty.Therefore, the northern people should gain the status of "political refugees".
In addition, China regards the northern people as economic immigrants that simply pass the illegal cross -border, and automatically violate the principle of "individual review of refugee status" stipulated in the refugee agreement.However, the application procedures for refugee identification are not launched, and these refugees are arrested, detained, and repatriated to clarify procedures in violation of the refugee contract.The Chinese government shall formally implement the general procedures for identifying refugees in accordance with international treaties and laws. It is necessary to judge those who are refugees or simply illegal cross -border.In fact, when the United Nations Refugee Agency also signed a bilateral dispute with the Chinese government in 1995, it could request a special agreement of "binding arbitration" within 45 days, but considering China's position, the right to arbitration must be exercised.Of course, this behavior does not match the original role of the United Nations Refugee Agency.
However, what is more important than these legal issues is the issue of human rights and humanitarianism.As an illegal cross -border, according to our understanding, according to our understanding, in China, it is suffered from violence, illegal detention, arrears of wages, selling population, sexual violence, mandatory marriage, forced divorce, and forced abortion.What's even more regrettable, in addition to being regarded as illegal people in China, there are more than 100,000 North Korean workers, but in terms of human rights and humanitarianism, we still have not heard any improvement measures.The United Nations North Korean Human Rights Investigation Commission (COI) that ignores the north and directly forced repatriation will be determined to help "anti -humanitarian crimes" based on this reason.
South Korea -China relations have the special nature of North Korea. The discussions between the two parties on North Korea are difficult to make breakthrough progress.However, human rights are the general value of international value, nor is it a problem that can be solved with each other.If China wants to become a world leader, it is necessary to re -explain the scope of refugees in accordance with international standards.At this point, first implement the procedure to inquire about the freedom of the northern person.Of course, South Korea cannot change the perspective of North Korea's human rights according to the different regimes, nor can it change the policy of the North North.Based on humanitarianism, South Korea and China should set specific directions to formulate a different substantial solution from the past.
The author is a professor of the University of Foreign Language and Foreign Language, the president of the Northeast Asia Future Cooperation Company
