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<H2 style="FONT-SIZE: 24px" class=main-headding-font><FONT color=#664b00>Foreign refugees put pressure on China</FONT></H2>
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<DIV class="storys_nsbrief clear_doted_nsbrief normal-medium-font"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Embassy protest opposes forced repatriation of North Koreans </SPAN></STRONG></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Stephen Hong, Seoul</SPAN><BR><SPAN style="COLOR: rgb(105,103,103); FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Korea<BR>February 28, 2012</SPAN></DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<DIV class=newsbriefimg><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><IMG style="MAX-WIDTH: 465px" border=0 alt="Catholic Church News Image of Foreign refugees put pressure on China" src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucanews.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F02%2Fdrc.gif"></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=newsbriefimgcapt><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Demonstrators outside the China embassy</SPAN>
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Foreign refugees living in South Korea have joined growing calls urging the Chinese government not to forcibly repatriate North Korean defectors detained in China.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Around 40 refugees from countries including Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, and Myanmar, staged a protest on Sunday outside the Chinese embassy in Seoul.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">According to reports, at least 30 North Koreans face repatriation and an uncertain future after being arrested by Chinese authorities recently.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">China said they are illegal economic migrants and are obliged to return them to North Korea.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">“We have escaped to South Korea from many countries around the world,” the protesters said, adding that they went to the embassy to let China know how refugees feel, since they are refugees themselves.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">“The North Korean refugees are facing a very dangerous situation, more severe than any one of us are,” they said in a statement.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">They said a country is obliged to protect a refugee and that forced repatriation is an infringement of human rights. In this case the forced repatriation of refugees to North Korea would be a death sentence, they added.</SPAN></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The protesters then urged the Chinese government to observe the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that China signed in 1982.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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