Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 5 December (HL3335), what assessment they have made of the compliance of their decision not to raise the individual cases of the ten North Korean refugees awaiting repatriation by China to North Korea with the UK's treaty obligations to act in cases where it is aware of treaty violations in another state.

We remain concerned that China continues to regard North Koreans fleeing the DPRK as economic migrants rather than refugees under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. The UK Government calls upon China to observe the fundamental principle that refugees should not be returned to a country where they may be subject to persecution. This is clearly the case in North Korea. We raised this issue most recently with China at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in June 2017.

The UK Government has made clear on many occasions our serious concerns about the human rights situation in the DPRK and the regime's treatment of its people, particularly those who are repatriated. These are issues we have raised repeatedly both directly with the DPRK government and through our leading roles in multilateral organisations.

We continue to work with allies and partners to maintain pressure on the DPRK to address the significant concerns we have about its human rights record, including the treatment of DPRK defectors. Most recently, the UK helped to advance an EU-Japan sponsored resolution at the United Nations Third Committee condemning the DPRK's appalling human rights situation and calling for immediate action.