A US humanitarian organization cautioned Tuesday that North Korea's reported nuclear test could trigger a new wave of refugees crossing into China, if the international reaction results in further cuts to food and economic assistance reaching the isolated country.
Refugees International noted that China and South Korea, the two main suppliers of aid to Pyongyang, are under growing pressure to toughen their stance. Any embargo by those countries would cause living conditions inside North Korea to "deteriorate rapidly," according to the group's vice president for policy.
Aid to North Korea was already severely strained before the nuclear announcement. A 2005 ban on private grain trading, summer flooding, and earlier diplomatic tensions had sharply reduced food assistance. Funding for World Food Program operations covering North Korea stood at roughly 10 percent of what was needed, supporting only about one million people, down from more than six million previously.
Human rights organizations estimate as many as 300,000 North Koreans have already fled to China, though Refugees International put the figure at 50,000. China classifies all such arrivals as illegal migrants and returns them, despite warnings that deportees face severe punishment at home.
US Senator Sam Brownback urged President George W. Bush to press China to adopt a formal non-deportation policy and to work with the United Nations to protect North Korean refugees. The US had quietly granted refugee status to six North Koreans earlier in 2006, the first admitted under a 2004 asylum law.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.