South Korea Rejects Refugee Status For Chinese-North Korean defectors

South Korea has rejected refugee status for ethnic Chinese people who have been “stateless” since they fled North Korea years ago, two of the applicants and an activists' group said Wednesday.

Unlike North Korean defectors, who receive citizenship, almost-free apartments and other economic assistance in South Korea, ethnic Chinese from the North are denied access to such benefits if they maintained Chinese nationality in North Korea.

About 30 of them have been designated as “stateless” in South Korea,



after authorities detected their attempts to pose as North Korean nationals and detained them, observers say.

The “stateless” designation makes it extremely difficult for them to get jobs and receive basic government-provided services.

Four of them subsequently applied for refugee status in 2019, saying they wanted better treatment because their families lived in North Korea for generations and suffered similar political suppression and economic difficulties to what most ordinary North Korean citizens face.