Beijing/Seoul - North Korea has executed 15 people who were
accused of entering China or attempting to cross the border
illegally, a South Korean aid group for North Korean refugees said on
Wednesday.
The public executions of 13 women and two men took place on
February 20 in the north-eastern border town of Onseong and were
witnessed by shocked residents of the town's Juwongu district, Erica
Kang of Good Friends told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.
Local sources told Good Friends that the executions were aimed at
deterring more people from attempting to cross North Korea's
1,300-kilometre border with China this spring.
Different groups estimate that between 50,000 and 300,000 North
Korean refugees have crossed the border from their impoverished
nation and are living in China.
The Chinese government refuses to recognize them as refugees,
categorizing them as illegal migrants, but has allowed dozens of
North Koreans to leave for third countries after they entered
diplomatic premises in China.
In previous years, China has repatriated many North Koreans who
were caught without official documents or arrested for crime.
It sent troops to replace armed police along its border with
North Korea in late 2003, in an apparent response to growing
cross-border crime and an influx of North Korean refugees.
China has reportedly stepped up border patrols this year as part
of a broad effort to avoid potential embarrassment during the
Olympic Games in Beijing this August, Kang said.
'And that's why there aren't many North Korean refugees these
days,' Kang said.
'This year it's almost impossible to go across the border,' she
said.
Kang said Good Friends had written a brief report on the Onseong
executions in its Korean-language newsletter this week.
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