The US said on Thursday that it would soon begin accepting North Korean refugees fleeing the hardline communist state.
"I believe that we are now in a position to begin to process refugees in an appropriate way, in a safe way without jeopardizing [their safety and our security]," said Jay Lefkowitz, the special envoy for human rights in North Korea.
"We will be in a position relatively soon to welcome North Korean refugees in the United States," he told a Congressional hearing.
Lawmakers criticized the administration of President George W. Bush at the hearing for not accepting even a single North Korean refugee 18 months after he signed a law to facilitate their entry into the US.
The North Korean Human Rights Act was intended to address the human rights situation in North Korea and promote "durable solutions" for refugees.
Lefkowitz said the administration had to overcome bureaucratic hurdles and security concerns to set up an appropriate mechanism to accept the refugees.
Lefkowitz added that China, which has the greatest number of North Korean refugees, "has not been at all cooperative in trying to help us or the UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] to facilitate the movement of refugees.
"So we faced challenges both to gaining access to refugees and screening them. I believe we have made some significant progress in the last couple of months with our friends and allies in the region," he said.
China does not recognize North Koreans who fled as refugees and normally sends them back to their country, where some are believed to have been executed.
Under UN refugee rules, people who flee their homeland are not to be returned if their life or freedom is at risk.
It is not known how many North Korean refugees would be accepted initially into the US.
Up to 300,000 North Koreans have fled to China, escaping oppression and starvation in their Stalinist homeland, human rights groups say.
Nearly 8,000 North Koreans have so far resettled in South Korea.
"The United States has a tradition of being a refuge to vulnerable people seeking haven from despotic regimes, and we will do our part to help this vulnerable population," Lefkowitz said.
The refugee issue is going to further complicate efforts to resolve a four-year nuclear row between the US and North Korea.
Six-nation negotiations to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive were suspended last November after Washington imposed financial sanctions on the Stalinist state over counterfeiting and money laundering charges.
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