BANGKOK, Thailand - The top US official on refugees on Thursday urged Asian countries to help North Koreans fleeing hunger and repression in their communist country - a week after Thai police arrested 175 of them for illegal entry. “We are aggressively encouraging all the governments in the region to provide opportunity for North Koreans ... to allow them to move on and resettle in third countries,” US Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey told a news conference during her visit to Bangkok.Thai police raided a house in Bangkok on Aug. 22 and arrested 175 North Koreans. A Thai court convicted 136 of them for illegal entry and jailed them for a month because they could not afford to pay their fines. Sixteen were granted permission for resettlement to South Korea before the arrest, and the remaining 23 were children under the age of 15. Neither group was charged, but the minors were staying in jail with their families.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said his agency had been granted access to the jailed North Koreans and would assist them to find third countries for resettlement. Most wanted to resettle in South Korea, he said.
Thousands of North Koreans, facing hunger and repression in their homeland, have made their way abroad in recent years, many taking a long and risky land journey through China to arrive in Southeast Asian countries. They usually seek asylum at the embassies of third countries, though many are believed to be in hiding.
Under Thai law, illegal immigrants have to be deported, but Thai authorities said they would consider “humanitarian concern” in dealing with the jailed North Koreans. Thailand expressed its dissatisfaction that the country had increasingly been used by North Koreans as a transit point to go to third countries, fearing it could cause diplomatic tensions with North Korea.