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International Journal of Refugee Law Advance Access originally published online on July 4, 2007
International Journal of Refugee Law 2007 19(2):215-245; doi:10.1093/ijrl/eem014
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© The Author (2007). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

North Korean Refugees and International Refugee Law

Elim Chan* and Andreas Schloenhardt**

* BA (History), LLB, The University of Adelaide Law School. The author wishes to give special thanks to Mr Christoph Bierwirth for his continuous support, encouragement, inspiration and guidance, and to Mr Noël Verma, Mr Paul Chan, Mrs Martha Chan, Ms Riana Teo, Mr Tobias Borkert, Ms Sara Brooks, Ms Karine Dubreuil and Mr John Grova for their friendship and support while this manuscript was written
** PhD (Law), Lecturer, The University of Queensland T C Beirne School of Law, Brisbane Qld 4172, Australia. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Monterey Institute of International Affairs (MIIS), California, USA on 27 Sept. 2005. The author wishes to thank Professor Tsuneo Akaha, MIIS, Monterey (CA), Ms Lori B Rubenstein, Santa Monica (CA), and Mr Jason Fraser (Brisbane) for their encouragement, support, and friendship at the time this manuscript was written. An earlier version of this manuscript was released by the Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi, in 2005

The severe food crisis of the 1990s forced thousands of North Koreans to leave their country in search of food. Most of them crossed the border into China, to which the Government of the People's Republic of China (the PRC) responded by forcibly repatriating defectors to North Korea, thus placing many of them at risk of being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment and, at times, even death. This article provides an overview of the situation of North Korean asylum seekers and analyses the legal protection available to North Korean defectors under international law. The article focuses specifically on the situation of North Koreans in mainland China and China's obligations under international human rights and refugee law. The aim of the article is to contribute to the elaboration of durable solutions for the plight of North Korean asylum seekers and to develop a range of recommendations for law reform and policy change.


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