MCLC: alarm system to grab DPRK refugees

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: anne hennochowicz (annemh2 at gmail.com)
Subject: alarm system to grab DPRK refugees
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Source: Agence France-Presse (3/23/12):
 
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/23/secret-alarm-installed-by-china-to-grab-refu
gees.html

China installs alarm system to grab refugees: report
 

Seoul, March 23, 2012 (AFP) - China has installed a silent alarm system
inside every house in a border town as part of its strengthened crackdown
on fugitives from North Korea, a report said Friday.

 
The system is designed to let residents secretly send a signal to police
if North Korean escapees come to their houses and ask for help, South
Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

 
It can transmit dialogue between the owner of a house and visitors, and
Chinese authorities plan to expand it into other areas bordering the
North, the agency said.

 
"If you push the red button on the wall, a signal goes directly to a
police station," Yonhap quoted one man as saying.

 
The man said he saw the device during a recent trip to his relative in the
Yanbian border area in northeastern Jilin province.

 
Yonhap said China had stepped up a crackdown in border areas since South
Korea criticised its repatriation of dozens of North Korean refugees in
February and this month.

 
Almost all those fleeing the North cross first to China, where they face
repatriation if caught. Many hide out and then travel on to Southeast
Asian nations before flying to the South for resettlement.

 
Seoul has repeatedly urged Beijing to treat fugitives from the North as
refugees and not to send them back, saying they face harsh punishment.
China says they are economic migrants and not refugees deserving
protection.

 
The UN refugee agency and rights watchdog Amnesty International have also
urged Beijing not to send refugees back. Amnesty says returnees are sent
to labour camps where they are subject to torture.