Laos has sent nine North Koreans who fled their totalitarian homeland through China last month back to China, a Seoul official said Tuesday.
The nine North Korean defectors, aged between 15 and 23, were deported to China late Monday (local time) after being rounded up by the Lao authorities, the foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.
Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, hoping to travel to Laos, Thailand or other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.
North Korean defectors face harsh punishments and even execution after being repatriated from China, which does not recognize them as asylum seekers, according to defectors in South Korea and human rights activists.