Human rights and refugee status of the North Korean diaspora

초록

Purpose - This article explores human rights and refugee status of the North Korean diaspora, with particular focus on the social construction of refugee rights.Design/methodology/approach - The study analyzes the realities of the unstable status of the North Korean refugees in Asian and Western countries by focusing on the discrepancy between refugee rights and refugee status. Legal, political, diplomatic, and social issues around North Korean refugee status are examined by conducting an examination of the related countries' political discourses and actual policies.Findings - North Korean escapees in Northeast and Southeast Asia have lived in hiding from forced repatriations by the PRC and neighboring countries, vulnerable to human rights violations. While North Koreans in South Korea have been granted legal citizenship, many North Korean asylum seekers staying in other countries have not been under legal or humanitarian protection. Although the concerned states are under pressure from the international community advocating universal human rights of North Koreans, they enforce refugee policies pursuing their own political and economic interests. Thus, the status of North Koreans is unstable and threatened when refugee rights are politically constructed by the concerned states' political and economic interests as well as by international relations.Originality/value - This is a policy-oriented study detailing the refugee status of North Koreans in Asia, Europe, and America. © 2013 McFarland & Company, Inc.

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