SEOUL: Protesters rallied on Saturday outside the Chinese embassy in the South Korean capital, demanding that Beijing scrap plans to repatriate newly-arrested refugees from North Korea.
The demonstrators, estimated by police at about 100, said the 33 refugees face severe punishment or even death if forced back to their homeland.
Some 70 percent of the fugitives have families in South Korea, they said in a statement, including a 19-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.
In their statement the demonstrators claimed the North's new leader Kim Jong-Un has given orders to execute all those caught trying to flee his country.
Other activists say the North has strengthened border security and toughened punishment for refugees since Jong-Un took over from his late father Kim Jong-Il in December.
The South's foreign ministry and human rights groups have urged Beijing not to send fugitives back against their will.
China treats North Koreans found on its soil as economic migrants and sends them home. Rights groups severely criticise the policy, saying they should be given refugee status.
More than 21,700 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the 1950-1953 war, the vast majority in recent years. Almost all of them escape to China, hide out and then travel to a third country to seek resettlement in Seoul.
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