북한이탈주민과 그 지원자의 난민성에 대한 법리적 고찰

Abstract

Until now, North Korea is considered as the most oppressive regime on the Earth. It is well known that the North Korean government has no due process system over the imprisoning, and torturing, public executing prisoners at will and arbitrary detentions is committed. It is unknown secrets that North Koreans sent to prison camps and detention centers are often subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Since the North Korean famine of the 1990s, more North Koreans have defected. The usual strategy is to cross the border into Jilin and Liaoning provinces in northeast China before fleeing to a third country, due to China being a close ally of North Korea. However China refuses to grant North Korean defectors refugee status and considers them illegal economic migrants. Therefore if the defectors are caught in China, they are repatriated back to North Korea to face harsh interrogations and years of punishment, or even death in political prison camps. A refugee is someone seeking land because of their sexuality, gender, race, religion and ethnicity. International refugee law defines a refugee as someone who seeks refuge in a foreign country because of war and violence, or out of fear of persecution. However the practical determination of whether a person is a refugee or not is most often left to certain government agencies within the host country. This can lead to a situation where the country will neither recognize the refugee status of the asylum seekers nor see them as legitimate migrants and treat them as illegal aliens. North Korean defector's life in China is so miserable and someone says that it is another human rights disaster. However, China refuses to grant refugee status to North Korean defectors and considers them illegal economic migrants. The Chinese authorities arrest and deport hundreds of defectors back into North Korea. Under the circumstances, issues arise what is the legal status of North Korean defectors and their supporters and are there any legal grounds to the treatment of the Chinese government to North Korean defectors?From all these points of view, this paper examines the legality of North Korean defectors and their supporters under the international refugee law theory. At first the aim of this work is to give the legal justification in judging the refugee issues through the analysis of the practical legal cases. And then, for the reasonable solution of North Korea refugee issues, this paper urges the position changes of the Chinese government by introducing humanitarian intervention law theory and by accepting legal opinions of the international community such as Tarik M. Radwan. On this paper, I once more make an assertion that the refugee issues must be settled by elaborate analysis under the international legal norms and theories, and these efforts will recall the reasonable solution against horrible North Korea human rights situation and it's improvement at least in North Korean defector areas.