China May Deport North Korean Defectors Amid COVID Border Control Easing.

Looser COVID-related border controls between North Korea and China may lead to the deportation of over a thousand North Korean defectors who have been detained in China indefinitely. Many female defectors are vulnerable to trafficking and forced marriages in China. Human rights advocates are concerned that forcibly repatriated people are at risk of being sent to North Korean political prison camps. China considers the defectors economic migrants and is unlikely to heed calls to not repatriate them.