S. Korean legislators to China: stop returning N. Koreans

South Korean legislators on Friday condemned Chinas repatriation of fugitives from North Korea after Beijing reportedly sent nine back despite pleas from Seoul.The committee on foreign affairs and unification resolution urges China to follow international rules in handling North Koreans who flee their impoverished homeland and seeks outside help to halt the returns.It followed reports by Yonhap news agency and newspapers that nine North Koreans refugees were sent back last weekend and was adopted at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan.Activists who have been demonstrating in Seoul say the fugitives face severe punishment, even a possible death sentence, if forced to return home.President Lee Myung-Bak said Wednesday the North Koreans should be treated in line with international rules.The Souths foreign ministry has urged China to change its policy of treating North Koreans as economic migrants, and to give them refugee status.The ministry declined to confirm last weekends reported repatriation but said it would raise the issue for the first time at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.Seoul, however, will not mention China by name because of fears this could backfire, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.We dont want to put defectors in a bind by creating diplomatic discord with Beijing, an unnamed foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.About 30 North Korean refugees have reportedly been caught by Chinese authorities this month and are awaiting repatriation, as their relatives or other supporters in the South campaign to save them.My brother in North Korea called me, and said that my female cousin who crossed into China in late February was caught and sent back to North Korea, a North Korean refugee in the South told Yonhap Thursday.She said eight others were also repatriated.A Seoul group called North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said it could confirm that China had recently repatriated three North Koreans, although there might have been more.More than 21,700 North Koreans have fled to the South since the 1950-1953 war, the vast majority in recent years. They typically escape on foot to China, hide out and then travel to a third country to seek resettlement in the South.