China recently issued internal guidelines classifying North Korean defectors living in the country as potential national security risks.
A source in China told Daily NK recently that China’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security received “management guidelines for applying the Counterespionage Law” that “included a section placing illegal aliens born in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under the security management system.”
The guidelines are based on China’s amended Counterespionage Law, which took effect July 1, 2023. The law expanded the definition of espionage to include all acts of illegally acquiring, providing or leaking information, materials or items related to state security or national interest. It also significantly increased investigative and surveillance authority for state security agencies.
The internal guidelines view North Korean defectors as potential spies and call for strict control and crackdowns in the name of national security.
The shift reflects transformations in the diplomatic and security structure surrounding the Korean Peninsula, along with China’s stronger handling of illegal aliens. “China no longer views North Korean defectors from the standpoint of humanitarianism, but has reclassified them as a national security matter,” the source said.
The guidelines include security screenings for defectors, mandatory submission of communication and activity records, and processing in accordance with legal procedures — including deportations — should defectors pose a security threat.
Growing tension among defectors
“Family screenings and mobile device inspections have grown more frequent in areas where defectors live, including Nanjing, Shenyang and Changchun,” the source said. “On the ground, people say investigations called ‘security screenings’ have increased.”
Tension and insecurity have grown among North Korean defectors as a result.
“If the defector issue is seen through the perspective of national security, ordinary cases of people illegally crossing the border into China or illegal residency could grow into espionage cases,” the source said. “North Korean defectors here worry that the risk of deportation has grown.”
Another source in China said “the perception has grown that North Korean defectors are not simply illegal border crossers or illegal aliens, but major targets to be handled from a national security dimension.” Because of this, defectors “avoid outside contacts and refrain from travel as much as possible,” he said.
Within China, the intensity with which the guidelines’ management measures, including surveillance, are implemented differs by region.
“Rather than implement the measures consistently in all regions, the authorities will likely implement them differently in regions along the border, major cities, small interior cities and elsewhere in consideration of each region’s political and diplomatic situation,” the source said.
Experts are watching how China’s guidelines impact the human rights of North Korean defectors.
In a telephone conversation with Daily NK, Transitional Justice Working Group profiler Nina Seungju Lee said it was “very worrying that China has issued guidelines that target North Korean defectors when the activities of rescue workers on the ground have diminished since the enactment of the Counterespionage Law.” The law itself “could be applied in arbitrary ways, and North Korean defectors — who are very vulnerable due to their legal status — will likely be punished for merely engaging in online activity or sharing information,” she said.
Lee said she believes “China is diminishing its own position in the international community by merely intensifying laws favorable to itself.” The international community and South Korean government “must make stronger demands that the Chinese authorities adhere to international norms so that they establish legal protection devices for North Korean defectors living in the country,” she added.
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