New Delhi, India

Hundreds of North Koreans apparently "disappeared" after they were repatriated from China and sent back to the hermit kingdom, where they were expected to face imprisonment, a rights group said Thursday (Dec 7). 

Advertisment

The Seoul-based human rights group, Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), stated that they were forcibly deported by China in October under the cover of darkness in the "largest mass repatriation of its kind in years". 

The report suggests that they could have faced abuses at the hands of North Korean authorities. The report hasn't revealed any identity of the defectors, but it mentioned that most of them are women. 

Also read: China's Xi Jinping holds talks with EU's von der Leyen and Charles Michel in Beijing 

Advertisment

The report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) noted that no communication has been established with around 600 defectors. 

The report came about two months after South Korea lodged a protest with China over the suspected repatriation of a large number of North Koreans. They were reportedly trying to flee to South Korea. 

TJWG claims that on October 9, the defectors were transported in guarded buses and vans from Chinese detention centres. 

Advertisment

Watch: EU-China Summit: Top European Union officials meet with Xi in China Summit

×

Also read: As Italy leaves BRI, China warns against 'smearing' of the mega-initiative

North Korea calls the defectors criminals' and 'traitors

In a statement, the group said, "No communication has been established with the defectors since they were sent back." 

It added, "Those forcibly returned face the prospect of torture, sexual and gender-based violence, imprisonment in concentration camps, forced abortions and execution as their authoritative regime brands them 'criminals' and 'traitors.'"

As quoted by NBC News, Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, a legal analyst at TJWG, said: "Unlike North Korea, China does actually care about its international reputation" and "We believe that more forceful criticism and more forceful action from the US side might make Beijing rethink its policy". 

So far, there's no comment from the North Korean state media, but they had long denounced defectors as "human scum". 

In the past few years, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un tightened borders further. 

There's a lack of official remarks on the case, but in October, the Chinese foreign ministry denied that there were "so-called defectors" in the nation. 

However, they said that North Koreans had illegally entered for economic reasons and that China always handled the issue according to the law. 

(With inputs from agencies)