Border&nbsp;police&nbsp;in China's northeast have been given&nbsp;quotas&nbsp;to identify and expel undocumented migrants, one key aspect of broader surveillance that is making it harder for North Korean defectors to evade capture, according to previously undisclosed official documents and a dozen people familiar with the matter.

China has implemented new deportation centres, hundreds of smart facial-recognition cameras and extra boat patrols along its 1,400-kilometre frontier with North Korea, according to a Reuters review of more than 100 publicly available government documents that outline spending on border surveillance and infrastructure.&nbsp;

In addition, Chinese&nbsp;police&nbsp;have begun to closely monitor the social media accounts of North Koreans in China, and collect their fingerprints, voice and facial data, four defectors and two missionaries told Reuters.&nbsp;Stephen Kim, a missionary who helps North Koreans defect, told Reuters that based on his contacts with some 2,000 defectors, more than 90% of those currently in China had registered personal and biometric data with the&nbsp;police.&nbsp;

The measures took effect since the COVID-19 pandemic and have ramped up from 2023.

Cracking down on unauthorised migration helps Beijing manage a thorny issue in ties with Pyongyang while ensuring stability on China's periphery, according to eight people, including security scholars, rights activists and a former North Korean official. It also gives China potential leverage over its neighbour because Beijing can control the fate of these undocumented North Koreans, several of them said.

"But primarily, China has feared that if too many North Koreans find refuge in China, more and more North Koreans would follow suit, and in time the outflow would destabilize North Korea and lead to reunification under South Korea and to the expansion of U.S. political and military influence on the peninsula," said Roberta Cohen, a human rights specialist and a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state.

China's National Immigration Administration, which is responsible for border&nbsp;police, and the Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the immigration agency, did not respond to queries about efforts to identify and deport North Koreans.&nbsp;

Beijing's Foreign Ministry said China protected "the rights and interests of foreigners in China, while lawfully maintaining the order of border entries and exits". It said the "relevant report is completely not factual", in an apparent reference to Reuters reporting. The ministry didn't respond to additional questions about Reuters findings and which elements it considered incorrect.

North Korea's embassy in Beijing and its U.N. missions in Geneva and New York didn't respond to questions about China's handling of defectors.

While the documents don't explicitly identify North Koreans as targets of the surveillance and deportations, the measures are focused on areas adjoining North Korea.&nbsp;

Reuters found little evidence of similar actions at China's other borders, except its porous frontier with Myanmar, where China has been tackling organised crime and recently opened a deportation centre.

In a statement, Myanmar's government said 48,000 of its nationals were repatriated from China between 2022 and August 2024. Both countries collaborate on border management to ensure stability, it added.

<h2>Border patrol</h2>

Among the documents examined by Reuters was the 2024 budget for China's border&nbsp;police&nbsp;in Jilin province, which adjoins North Korea.

Of 163 million yuan in spending, almost 30 million yuan went to border security upgrades. That included 22.3 million yuan for an unspecified number of new patrol boats, and funding for "deportation and repatriation" of foreigners that illegally enter, live and work in Jilin.

The budget set goals for 18 border&nbsp;police&nbsp;stations and teams: Investigate and "deal with" at least 10 undocumented foreigners; spend no more than 30 days to process each deportation; and remind residents of the "harm and price paid" for aiding undocumented migrants. It lists performance metrics, including 10 points for achieving a repatriation rate of 95%.

There were no such&nbsp;quotas&nbsp;in the 2023 and 2022 budgets.

Construction also began last year on a deportation station in the border city of Dandong, in Liaoning province, while another is planned for Changchun city, in Jilin, government tenders show.

In March, Jilin border&nbsp;police&nbsp;awarded a 26.5 million-yuan contract to a Beijing sensor maker, HT Nova, to build a surveillance system that "emits high-energy rays to penetrate vehicles and goods" and can use deep learning to continuously improve its facial-recognition capabilities, according to one tender document.&nbsp;

The system, funded in the 2023 border&nbsp;police&nbsp;budget, would be installed at two crossings in the Changbai area, a route defectors use. The company didn't respond to a request for comment.

Separately, a 7,713 square-metre deportation station in the town of Tumen, which was in the works before the pandemic, was completed in 2023, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Since June 2022, the agency has published several job ads seeking graduates with Korean-language ability to work at the Tumen and Changchun facilities, who would be "mainly engaged in the detention of illegal immigrants pending deportation, identity verification, and implementation of repatriation".

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/north-koreas-evolving-military-threats-chinas-increasing-assertiveness-world-news-wion-648003">Watch |&nbsp;North Korea's evolving military threats; China's increasing assertiveness | World News | WION</a>

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<h2>Political dynamics</h2>

Beijing denies that there are any North Korean defectors, instead treating them as illegal economic migrants. There is no publicly available data on deportations of North Koreans, but rights groups say the tighter surveillance has increased the risk of capture.

About 70 per cent&nbsp;of defectors who tried to reach South Korea over the past two years have been arrested by Chinese&nbsp;police, up from about 20 per cent&nbsp;previously, according to the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group, which monitors deportations. China returned at least 60 North Koreans in April, said the group's executive director, Lee Younghwan.

The number of defectors reaching South Korea has declined overall since 2017, which Seoul's Unification Ministry said was due to tighter surveillance on the China-North Korea border, though there has been an increase since the pandemic ended.

In a statement, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Seoul is making "all-out efforts" to prevent China from forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors.

Five security scholars told Reuters that while both sides wanted to stanch the flow of defectors, China's ability to determine defectors' destiny gave it a card to play in diplomacy with North Korea, which is reliant on trade with China but has been forging increasingly close ties with Russia.&nbsp;

China "can demand something from North Korea that is beneficial to China", said Lee Dong Gyu, a China expert at Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. He said the crackdown helped&nbsp;Beijing from a stability standpoint, because North Korea was in economic turmoil and China did not want the effects of that spilling into its territory.

Lee Jung-hoon, an international relations professor at Yonsei University and a former South Korean ambassador-at-large for North Korean human rights, said there was a "high chance" that Pyongyang had asked China for help in blocking routes for defectors. He didn't provide specifics and Reuters could not establish whether North Korea had made such a request.

<h2>'Trapped'</h2>

This isn't the first time that China has cracked down on defectors. Reuters reported in 2019 that Chinese authorities had conducted raids that disrupted defector networks and resulted in the arrests of at least 30 North Koreans.&nbsp;

But some defectors say the heightened surveillance has intensified fear.&nbsp;

Choi Min-kyong, who reached South Korea in 2012 and runs a support group for defectors, said widespread facial-recognition technology in China made it difficult for defectors to move around. Using public transportation, for example, had become too risky.

Shin Ju-ye, who fled North Korea in the 1990s and settled in China's Heilongjiang province, said that during the pandemic, village officials began ordering North Koreans to register their biometric information with the&nbsp;police.&nbsp;Many of her North Korean friends complied, then regretted it, she said.

"My friends told me, 'Sister, don't do it. We are trapped in a fishing net now. If North Korea tells China to catch and send us, we're dead,'" Shin, 50, said in an interview in Seoul.

Reuters could not independently verify Shin's account, and she declined to share her acquaintances' contact information.&nbsp;

Wei Songxian, head of the Heilongjiang government's media office and vice-head of the provincial Communist Party publicity department, did not respond to questions about Shin's account.

Ultimately, Shin did not register her details. Instead, she hatched a plan to leave China.&nbsp;

Travelling in private vehicles, she escaped across the southern border to Vietnam, she said. She then ventured onward by bus, boat and on foot to reach Laos and Thailand, where she was handed to South Korean authorities. She arrived in South Korea in 2023.

Disclaimer: This story has been published from a news agency feed with minimal edits to adhere to WION's style guide. The headline may have been changed to better reflect the content of the story or to make it more suitable for WION audience.

Border police in China's northeast have been given quotas to identify and expel undocumented migrants, one key aspect of broader surveillance that is making it harder for North Korean defectors to evade capture, according to previously undisclosed official documents and a dozen people familiar with the matter.

Border police in China's northeast have been given quotas to identify and expel undocumented migrants, one key aspect of broader surveillance that is making it harder for North Korean defectors to evade capture, according to previously undisclosed official documents and a dozen people familiar with the matter. China has implemented new deportation centres, hundreds of smart facial-recognition cameras and extra boat patrols along its 1,400-kilometre frontier with North Korea, according to a Reuters review of more than 100 publicly available government documents that outline spending on border surveillance and infrastructure. In addition, Chinese police have begun to closely monitor the social media accounts of North Koreans in China, and collect their fingerprints, voice and facial data, four defectors and two missionaries told Reuters. Stephen Kim, a missionary who helps North Koreans defect, told Reuters that based on his contacts with some 2,000 defectors, more than 90% of those currently in China had registered personal and biometric data with the police. The measures took effect since the COVID-19 pandemic and have ramped up from 2023. Cracking down on unauthorised migration helps Beijing manage a thorny issue in ties with Pyongyang while ensuring stability on China's periphery, according to eight people, including security scholars, rights activists and a former North Korean official. It also gives China potential leverage over its neighbour because Beijing can control the fate of these undocumented North Koreans, several of them said. "But primarily, China has feared that if too many North Koreans find refuge in China, more and more North Koreans would follow suit, and in time the outflow would destabilize North Korea and lead to reunification under South Korea and to the expansion of U.S. political and military influence on the peninsula," said Roberta Cohen, a human rights specialist and a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state. China's National Immigration Administration, which is responsible for border police, and the Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the immigration agency, did not respond to queries about efforts to identify and deport North Koreans. Beijing's Foreign Ministry said China protected "the rights and interests of foreigners in China, while lawfully maintaining the order of border entries and exits". It said the "relevant report is completely not factual", in an apparent reference to Reuters reporting. The ministry didn't respond to additional questions about Reuters findings and which elements it considered incorrect. North Korea's embassy in Beijing and its U.N. missions in Geneva and New York didn't respond to questions about China's handling of defectors. While the documents don't explicitly identify North Koreans as targets of the surveillance and deportations, the measures are focused on areas adjoining North Korea. Reuters found little evidence of similar actions at China's other borders, except its porous frontier with Myanmar, where China has been tackling organised crime and recently opened a deportation centre. In a statement, Myanmar's government said 48,000 of its nationals were repatriated from China between 2022 and August 2024. Both countries collaborate on border management to ensure stability, it added. Border patrol Among the documents examined by Reuters was the 2024 budget for China's border police in Jilin province, which adjoins North Korea. Of 163 million yuan in spending, almost 30 million yuan went to border security upgrades. That included 22.3 million yuan for an unspecified number of new patrol boats, and funding for "deportation and repatriation" of foreigners that illegally enter, live and work in Jilin. The budget set goals for 18 border police stations and teams: Investigate and "deal with" at least 10 undocumented foreigners; spend no more than 30 days to process each deportation; and remind residents of the "harm and price paid" for aiding undocumented migrants. It lists performance metrics, including 10 points for achieving a repatriation rate of 95%. There were no such quotas in the 2023 and 2022 budgets. Construction also began last year on a deportation station in the border city of Dandong, in Liaoning province, while another is planned for Changchun city, in Jilin, government tenders show. In March, Jilin border police awarded a 26.5 million-yuan contract to a Beijing sensor maker, HT Nova, to build a surveillance system that "emits high-energy rays to penetrate vehicles and goods" and can use deep learning to continuously improve its facial-recognition capabilities, according to one tender document. The system, funded in the 2023 border police budget, would be installed at two crossings in the Changbai area, a route defectors use. The company didn't respond to a request for comment. Separately, a 7,713 square-metre deportation station in the town of Tumen, which was in the works before the pandemic, was completed in 2023, according to the National Immigration Administration. Since June 2022, the agency has published several job ads seeking graduates with Korean-language ability to work at the Tumen and Changchun facilities, who would be "mainly engaged in the detention of illegal immigrants pending deportation, identity verification, and implementation of repatriation". Watch | North Korea's evolving military threats; China's increasing assertiveness | World News | WION iv class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"> × Political dynamics Beijing denies that there are any North Korean defectors, instead treating them as illegal economic migrants. There is no publicly available data on deportations of North Koreans, but rights groups say the tighter surveillance has increased the risk of capture. About 70 per cent of defectors who tried to reach South Korea over the past two years have been arrested by Chinese police, up from about 20 per cent previously, according to the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group, which monitors deportations. China returned at least 60 North Koreans in April, said the group's executive director, Lee Younghwan. The number of defectors reaching South Korea has declined overall since 2017, which Seoul's Unification Ministry said was due to tighter surveillance on the China-North Korea border, though there has been an increase since the pandemic ended. In a statement, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Seoul is making "all-out efforts" to prevent China from forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors. Five security scholars told Reuters that while both sides wanted to stanch the flow of defectors, China's ability to determine defectors' destiny gave it a card to play in diplomacy with North Korea, which is reliant on trade with China but has been forging increasingly close ties with Russia. China "can demand something from North Korea that is beneficial to China", said Lee Dong Gyu, a China expert at Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. He said the crackdown helped Beijing from a stability standpoint, because North Korea was in economic turmoil and China did not want the effects of that spilling into its territory. Lee Jung-hoon, an international relations professor at Yonsei University and a former South Korean ambassador-at-large for North Korean human rights, said there was a "high chance" that Pyongyang had asked China for help in blocking routes for defectors. He didn't provide specifics and Reuters could not establish whether North Korea had made such a request. 'Trapped' This isn't the first time that China has cracked down on defectors. Reuters reported in 2019 that Chinese authorities had conducted raids that disrupted defector networks and resulted in the arrests of at least 30 North Koreans. But some defectors say the heightened surveillance has intensified fear. Choi Min-kyong, who reached South Korea in 2012 and runs a support group for defectors, said widespread facial-recognition technology in China made it difficult for defectors to move around. Using public transportation, for example, had become too risky. Shin Ju-ye, who fled North Korea in the 1990s and settled in China's Heilongjiang province, said that during the pandemic, village officials began ordering North Koreans to register their biometric information with the police. Many of her North Korean friends complied, then regretted it, she said. "My friends told me, 'Sister, don't do it. We are trapped in a fishing net now. If North Korea tells China to catch and send us, we're dead,'" Shin, 50, said in an interview in Seoul. Reuters could not independently verify Shin's account, and she declined to share her acquaintances' contact information. Wei Songxian, head of the Heilongjiang government's media office and vice-head of the provincial Communist Party publicity department, did not respond to questions about Shin's account. Ultimately, Shin did not register her details. Instead, she hatched a plan to leave China. Travelling in private vehicles, she escaped across the southern border to Vietnam, she said. She then ventured onward by bus, boat and on foot to reach Laos and Thailand, where she was handed to South Korean authorities. She arrived in South Korea in 2023. Disclaimer: This story has been published from a news agency feed with minimal edits to adhere to WION's style guide. The headline may have been changed to better reflect the content of the story or to make it more suitable for WION audience.

Police quotas and surveillance trap: Here's how China is deporting North Korean defectors

In a bid to strengthen ties between the two nations, China's top lawmaker Zhao Leji on Saturday (Apr 13) met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and expressed Beijing's willingness to work towards boosting cooperation and deepening trust, said Chinese state media reports.

Zhao's official tour to North Korea marks the first visit by the highest-ranking Chinese official since the year 2018 when Li Zhanshu attended the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding.

"No matter how the international situation changes, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, created and nurtured by the older generation of leaders from both parties and countries, remains deep-rooted and strong over time," Zhao said in a speech, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

At the end of Zhao's three-day visit to Pyongyang, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday.

The meeting between the top Chinese diplomat and North Korean leader came as China kickstarted a "friendship year" with DPRK and is willing to make efforts for the diplomatic ties to reach a "higher level".

Kim Jong Un underlined that North Korea and China have a "deep historical tradition" and added that China-DPRK relations are "constantly developing to a new and higher stage," reported CCTV.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-drops-hammer-on-four-chinese-companies-for-helping-chinas-military-710879">US blacklists four Chinese companies for supplying AI chips to Chinese military</a>

<h2>North Korea test-fires new hypersonic missile</h2>

Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un on Wednesday (Apr 10) said that unstable geopolitical situations surrounding the country meant now was the time to be more prepared for war than ever.&nbsp;

"Outlining the complicated international situation ... and the uncertain and unstable military and political situation around the DPRK, he said that now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before," state media quoted Kim on Thursday.&nbsp;

His remarks came after Pyongyang on Tuesday fired a new hypersonic missile.&nbsp;

Overseeing the launch of the Hwasong-16B missile, the supreme leader called it a strategic weapon showcasing the "absolute superiority" of Pyongyang's defence technology, KCNA reported.&nbsp;

He said that the launch would provide North Korea with the capacity for "rapidly, accurately and powerfully striking any target in the enemy side worldwide".

(With inputs from agencies)

In a bid to strengthen ties between the two nations, China's top lawmaker Zhao Leji on Saturday (Apr 13) met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and expressed Beijing's willingness to work towards boosting cooperation and deepening trust, said Chinese state media reports.

In a bid to strengthen ties between the two nations, China's top lawmaker Zhao Leji on Saturday (Apr 13) met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and expressed Beijing's willingness to work towards boosting cooperation and deepening trust, said Chinese state media reports. Zhao's official tour to North Korea marks the first visit by the highest-ranking Chinese official since the year 2018 when Li Zhanshu attended the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding. "No matter how the international situation changes, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, created and nurtured by the older generation of leaders from both parties and countries, remains deep-rooted and strong over time," Zhao said in a speech, according to China's Xinhua news agency. At the end of Zhao's three-day visit to Pyongyang, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday. The meeting between the top Chinese diplomat and North Korean leader came as China kickstarted a "friendship year" with DPRK and is willing to make efforts for the diplomatic ties to reach a "higher level". Kim Jong Un underlined that North Korea and China have a "deep historical tradition" and added that China-DPRK relations are "constantly developing to a new and higher stage," reported CCTV. Also read: US blacklists four Chinese companies for supplying AI chips to Chinese military North Korea test-fires new hypersonic missile Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un on Wednesday (Apr 10) said that unstable geopolitical situations surrounding the country meant now was the time to be more prepared for war than ever. "Outlining the complicated international situation ... and the uncertain and unstable military and political situation around the DPRK, he said that now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before," state media quoted Kim on Thursday. His remarks came after Pyongyang on Tuesday fired a new hypersonic missile. Overseeing the launch of the Hwasong-16B missile, the supreme leader called it a strategic weapon showcasing the "absolute superiority" of Pyongyang's defence technology, KCNA reported. He said that the launch would provide North Korea with the capacity for "rapidly, accurately and powerfully striking any target in the enemy side worldwide". (With inputs from agencies)

China’s top legislator meets Kim Jong Un, says Beijing willing to deepen trust

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to promote a "long-term, sound and stable" relationship with North Korea, state news agency Xinhua said Sunday, as the two countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also sent a message to Xi saying their countries' "invincible friendship will be immortal on the road of accomplishing the cause of socialism," said Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA on Sunday.

North Korea was among the first countries to recognise the People's Republic of China after it was founded in 1949.

Xi said the relationship between the Asian neighbours had played an "important and positive role in maintaining regional peace and stability," said Xinhua.

Since March 2018, Xi and Kim have met five times.

Xi was the first Chinese leader to visit the reclusive North in 14 years when he made a highly symbolic trip to the nuclear-armed state in June.

Kim said the two countries would "steadily defend the cause of socialism and preserve peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the world," according to KCNA.

The warm words from Beijing follow its huge military parade Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding a Communist China, and come a day after the latest round of nuclear talks between the US and North Korea ended in Sweden.

Pyongyang -- under three sets of UN sanctions in a bid to force it to give up its nuclear and ballistic weapons programmes -- said the talks broke down because the US "disappointed us greatly".

Washington, however, said there had been "good discussions".

The talks followed months of stalemate after a February meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump, and came after Pyongyang's defiant test of a sea-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday.

Since the US-North Korea talks began, Russia and China have been calling for the United Nations to start lifting sanctions so as to create momentum towards the North's denuclearisation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to promote a "long-term, sound and stable" relationship with North Korea, state news agency Xinhua said Sunday, as the two countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to promote a "long-term, sound and stable" relationship with North Korea, state news agency Xinhua said Sunday, as the two countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also sent a message to Xi saying their countries' "invincible friendship will be immortal on the road of accomplishing the cause of socialism," said Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA on Sunday. North Korea was among the first countries to recognise the People's Republic of China after it was founded in 1949. Xi said the relationship between the Asian neighbours had played an "important and positive role in maintaining regional peace and stability," said Xinhua. Since March 2018, Xi and Kim have met five times. Xi was the first Chinese leader to visit the reclusive North in 14 years when he made a highly symbolic trip to the nuclear-armed state in June. Kim said the two countries would "steadily defend the cause of socialism and preserve peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the world," according to KCNA. The warm words from Beijing follow its huge military parade Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding a Communist China, and come a day after the latest round of nuclear talks between the US and North Korea ended in Sweden. Pyongyang -- under three sets of UN sanctions in a bid to force it to give up its nuclear and ballistic weapons programmes -- said the talks broke down because the US "disappointed us greatly". Washington, however, said there had been "good discussions". The talks followed months of stalemate after a February meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump, and came after Pyongyang's defiant test of a sea-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday. Since the US-North Korea talks began, Russia and China have been calling for the United Nations to start lifting sanctions so as to create momentum towards the North's denuclearisation.

Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un hail 'immortal' China-North Korea relationship