Dozens of North Korean defectors caught by secret police 'vanish,' rights group says

seoul, southbound korea — 

More than 100 North Koreans person gone missing aft being caught by concealed constabulary portion trying to defect from the isolated state oregon adjacent for trying to telephone relatives successful South Korea, a Seoul-based quality rights radical said Thursday.

The Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) released a study detailing patterns of enforced disappearances done its survey based connected interviews with 62 North Korean escapees successful South Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans person defected successful the decades since the Korean War ended successful 1953 with an armistice, with galore of those caught oregon repatriated sent to situation camps oregon different detention facilities earlier being released.

The radical identified 113 radical successful 66 disappearance cases, including the cases successful an archive tally with different planetary organizations, arsenic good arsenic maps depicting transportation routes.

Of the 113, 80%, oregon 90, were arrested wrong North Korea and the remainder successful China oregon Russia, with astir 30% disappearing since person Kim Jong Un took powerfulness successful precocious 2011.

Almost 40% of them went missing aft being caught trying to fly the country, portion 26% took work for different household member's crime. Nearly 9% were accused of being successful interaction with those successful South Korea oregon different countries.

More than 81% vanished aft being transferred to and detained by the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the North's concealed constabulary known arsenic "bowibu," according to the report.

An interviewee who defected to the South successful 2018 from the Chinese borderline metropolis of Hyesan said his person was arrested by the MSS portion trying to retrieve a Chinese mobile telephone hidden successful the mountains and was present rumored to person died.

"Once (the MSS) finds telephone records with South Korea, they are considered superior offenses," the interviewee was quoted successful the study arsenic saying.

Kang Jeong-hyun, manager of the project, said the study was intended to underscore enforced disappearances committed by the Kim authorities arsenic transnational crimes besides involving China and Russia.

The study was published conscionable days earlier the U.N. Human Rights Council is owed to contented its Universal Periodic Review connected North Korea.

The United Nations estimates up to 200,000 radical are held successful a immense web of gulags tally by the MSS, galore of them for governmental reasons. A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry study said the prisoners faced torture, rape, forced labor, starvation and different inhumane treatment.

Pyongyang has agelong denounced defectors arsenic "human scum," and Kim has further tightened borderline controls implicit the past fewer years.

The North's Korea Association for Human Rights Studies this period rejected a U.N. study connected its quality rights violations including forced disappearances, calling them "fabrications" and a conspiracy by the West to escalate confrontation and tarnish the country’s image.

Beijing has denied determination are immoderate North Korean defectors successful China, alternatively describing them arsenic amerciable economical migrants.