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Some five or six North Korean defectors are reportedly preparing to enter the U.S. under the protection of its embassy in a Southeast Asian country as Washington prepares to make good on a pledge to grant asylum to more refugees from the Stalinist country.
Sources in the U.S. government and Congress said Thursday as soon as procedural matters with the Asian country are resolved, the North Koreans will make their way to the U.S. Another official said the defectors are staying at a safe house in the U.S. legation in a Southeast Asian country but did not specify the country or the defectors¡¯ identities for reasons of their safety.
Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, on Thursday told a House of Representatives hearing on North Korean human rights issues, ¡°We will be in a position relatively soon to welcome North Korean refugees in the United States.¡± Lefkowitz said that there were anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000 North Koreans in northeastern China and the U.S. would make sure that friendly nations and allies in the region are clearly aware that the U.S. is ready to admit them and help them resettle in America.
The U.S. is expected to grant the defectors refugee status. There are currently some 200 North Korean defectors in Thailand, Cambodia and other Asian countries besides China, with 100 of them believed to be entering Mongolia every month, an official with an activist group for human rights in North Korea said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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