Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Governments of (a) China and (b) South Korea on the forced repatriation to North Korea of (i) Choi Byai and (ii) six other North Korean defectors.

We are aware of reports of the seven North Koreans currently being detained in China. We have not raised these particular cases directly with the Chinese or ROK Government but understand the ROK Government is looking into them closely. We continue to emphasise to China that people fleeing North Korea should be treated as legitimate asylum claimants and should not be returned as stipulated by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.