Fate unknown of many returned to DPR Korea from China: UN independent experts

Three years on from the reported resumption of large-scale forcible returns of nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from China, serious concerns persist about their fate, according to a group of Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts.There is no information on the whereabouts and treatment of those repatriated – or those who remain at risk of return – the experts said in a press release on Wednesday.“These events form part of a longstanding pattern of serious human rights violations against individuals forcibly returned to the DPRK. In the absence of independent monitoring in either country, many returnees remain unaccounted for,” they said.“For as long as their fate and whereabouts remain unknown, returnees are deprived of essential safeguards against enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, execution, torture, forced labour, sexual and gender-based violence and other serious human rights violations,” the experts added.Trafficked and exploitedReports indicate that some women who left the DPRK – commonly known as North Korea – became victims of trafficking, forced marriage and sexual exploitation.Among them is Kim Cheol-ok, who reportedly fl...