US Agrees to Take Many N Koreans Refugees. Up to 20,000.

US Agrees To Take Many N Korean Refugees
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By Hamish McDonald
China Correspondent
10-5-3

BEIJING -- The United States has signalled its willingness to take in
large numbers of North Korean refugees in a move that could help sap
internal support for the isolated state's Stalinist regime.

A senior US State Department official has been in Beijing trying to
persuade the Chinese leadership to allow up to 20,000 North Koreans
hiding in China to resettle in the US and others to go to South Korea.

About 300,000 North Koreans are believed to be living underground in
China after sneaking across the 1300-kilometre land border and mingling
with the 2 million ethnic Koreans holding Chinese nationality.

Since South Korean and Western activists began a high-profile effort to
encourage defections in mid-2002 with the aim of an East Germany-style
collapse of the North Korean regime, Chinese authorities have blocked
attempts to deliver refugees to third countries or foreign embassies and
deported hundreds back to North Korea.

Beijing cites a concern that an uncontrolled refugee flow would
overwhelm Manchuria, where millions are jobless from the closure of
obsolete industries. But it is also worried about the risk to regional
stability if the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suddenly
collapses.

The US assistant secretary of state in charge of refugee and migration,
Arthur Dewey, said yesterday that Washington was trying to win agreement
from China to let some of the North Korean refugees travel to the US and
South Korea, where they are eligible for citizenship because of their
ethnic origin. with agencies

Copyright © 2003. The Age Company Ltd

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