BEIJING, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- China has reportedly repatriated a group of 70 North Koreans arrested in Beijing last month while trying to seek asylum at foreign embassies.
Among those sent home were 62 North Koreans arrested by Chinese police in a raid on two safe houses in Beijing Oct. 26, and eight who were caught while trying to enter the South Korean consulate in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The move sparked anger in South Korea and among human rights activists who have been helping North Korean refugees escape, through China and other countries, to the South.
An editorial in South Korea's Chosun Ilbo Tuesday commented, "North Korea without fail sends to concentration camps those defectors sent back home after being caught while attempting to go to South Korea. That China, with a full knowledge of this, has sent back North Korean escapees to the North is tantamount to telling them 'go and die.'"
Activists are hoping that the United States will take a firmer stand in support of the refugees. U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law on Oct. 18 the North Korea Human Rights Act, allocating $20 million to help North Korean refugees between 2005 and 2008.
