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For the first time a U.S. court has granted asylum to a North Korean defector who had already acquired South Korean citizenship. The Los Angeles Immigration Court on Thursday granted political asylum to a former North Korean military officer using the pseudonym Seo Jae-sok, who entered the Unites States through the Mexican border in 2004 with his wife and their two children.
His lawyer Miriam Kang of the California-based non-profit organization Human Rights Project said Seo was considered a North Korean national and not South Korean. She added the court concluded Seo faced persecution in the communist North.
Observers say the ruling may pave the way for more North Korean defectors to gain asylum in the U.S., which has so far been unwilling to admit them despite official rhetoric in support of their human rights.
Arirang News
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