Some North Korean refugees end Thai hunger strike
A hunger strike by North Korean refugees being held at a Thai detention centre continued Thursday, although some of the around 100 people have resumed eating, the UN refugee agency said.
The refugees are protesting at delays to their resettlement in South Korea and began the action late Tuesday.
"Some of them are eating again, but some of them are still continuing a hunger strike," said Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She declined to give further details.
The refugees were suppoed to leave Thailand several days ago but Thai authorities abruptly put off their scheduled trip without giving any clear reasons, the global body said.
Thailand's national police chief, General Sereepisut Taemeeyaves, also said some of the North Koreans "resumed eating" without elaborating further.
A South Korean diplomat in Bangkok declined to comment on the issue.
But Lee Ho-Taeg, secretary general of the International Campaign to Block the Repatriation of North Korean Refugees, said some 400 North Koreans were still on a hunger strike.
Lee said a top Thai immigration official met the North Koreans Wednesday and urged them to eat.
"He threatened to repatriate them to the North unless they stop the hunger strike. Three North Koreans passed out, probably because they were so shocked at the threat," Lee told AFP in Seoul.
"The North Koreans are angered at the threat. They originally planned to go starved for five days only but they are now determined to do it indefinitely," the activist said.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans, fleeing hunger or repression in the hardline communist state, have travelled across the border to China in recent years.
But China has an agreement with its close ally North Korea to repatriate them as economic migrants, a policy strongly criticised by refugee aid groups.
If forcefully returned, these North Koreans face harsh punishment including jail terms and forced labour, according to rights groups.
To avoid forced repatriation, the refugees often travel on to third countries in hopes of winning eventual resettlement in South Korea, and Thailand is an increasingly popular destination for the refugees.
The number of North Koreans arrested for illegal entry in Thailand soared to 400 in 2006 from 50 the year before. Agence France Presse
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