North Koreans in Russia - Refugees

Refugees

The decline of the economy of North Korea has also resulted in an increasing number of North Korean refugees in Russia, also in the eastern regions. Many of these refugees are runaways from the North Korean logging camps. Both South Korean diplomatic missions and local ethnic Koreans are reluctant to provide them with any assistance. As early as 1994, then-South Korean prime minister was quoted as stating "It is legally not tidy for us to grant North Koreans asylum". It is believed that North Korea ordered the assassination of South Korean consul Choi Duk-gun in 1996 as well as two private citizens in 1995, in response to their contact with the refugees. As of 1999, there were estimated to be only between 100 and 500 North Korean refugees in the area. However, their numbers grew rapidly. In 2003, Sergey Darkin, the Governor of Primorsky Krai, suggested allowing up to 150,000 North Korean refugees in China to settle in Russia, but his plan never came to fruition. In November 2007, militia abducted a North Korean asylum seeker in front of a Federal Migration Service office in Moscow which turned him over to agents of the North Korean special services. The refugee later escaped from a facility in Vladivostok, and intervention by the NGO Civic Assistance and UNHCR prevented his deportation.