The State Department's top official on refugee affairs criticized China on Tuesday, saying Beijing knows that the defectors it returns to North Korea will likely be tortured and killed.
Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey also said more North Korean refugees are expected to be resettled in the US in the near future. Six arrived in May, the first since US President George W. Bush signed a 2004 law meant to make it easier for North Koreans to apply for refugee status.
"If they indicate an interest in going to the US, we are doing everything we can to make that possible very quickly," Sauerbrey said after a speech at the Heritage Foundation think tank. "We are expecting to receive more."
Her comments come amid rising tensions over what are believed to be North Korea's preparations to test a rocket that could reach the continental US. International diplomatic efforts to curb North Korea's self-announced nuclear weapons production program have been stalled since last year.
A South Korean newspaper reported late last month that four North Koreans staying at an American diplomatic mission in China would be allowed to travel to the US.
Sauerbrey declined to provide specifics about US efforts to help North Korean refugees, expressing a reluctance to upset delicate diplomatic relations with the Asian countries harboring them.
But she did condemn actions by China, where tens of thousands of North Koreans are thought to be. Those caught by Chinese authorities are usually sent home, US officials say, where they can expect harsh punishment.
"When China sends people back to North Korea, it is with a knowledge that they are probably going to be tortured and killed," she said.
China views fleeing North Koreans as "economic migrants," not refugees, and is obligated to send them back under a treaty with North Korea.
Congressman Chris Smith, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives' subcommittee on global human rights, said China's return of refugees to North Korea violates international pledges the country has made.
"They have an obligation to these North Korean refugees that they have completely abandoned," Smith said in an interview.
China, he said, has been "tone-deaf" in responding to international appeals for it to help North Koreans seeking asylum.
Sauerbrey also acknowledged the difficult task faced by officials working to help North Koreans come to the US.
Many refugees try to make their way through China to South Korea. Others try to reach Southeast Asian countries. These countries, Sauerbrey said, are wary about being seen as a staging point for North Koreans hoping to flee to the US.
"In all cases, the countries in the region have been very resistant to processing North Korean refugees," she said. "We have to be very careful in our efforts to expedite our own program ... that we don't shut the pipeline down completely."
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