Visit to North Korean Refugees Detained in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand
The following is an excerpt from our recent news release:
From Jan. 14 to 19 in 2018, LFNKR survey group (led by executive director, Mr. Hiroshi Kato) visited the Thai-Lao border along the Mekong River to gather accurate, updated information on the escape route of North Korean refugees and conditions in the local areas. The group visited local police stations in the border area to determine the current situation experienced by North Korean defectors detained at the police stations.
Most North Korean defectors head for the northeastern part of Thailand, and turn themselves in at local police stations, where they then take legal procedures that will qualify them to continue on to the final destination countries where they wish to resettle.
We visited Chiang Kohn police station and Nakhon Phanom police station located in northeastern Thailand. Nakhon Phanom is a relatively new landing point for North Korean defectors. At these police stations, we expressed our appreciation for their humanitarian treatment of North Korean defectors. The head of the Nakhon Phanom police station mentioned that they allow the detainees to freely move around within the police premises in the evening for their mental well-being.
In a wonderful surprise, we were allowed to interview a total of 16 North Korean defectors being detained in two cells at the Nakhon Phanom police station. There were two mothers, one holding a 1-year old baby; and the other holding a 10-month old baby. There was also one male, 20 years old, being detained in a separate cell.
We noticed that some of the detainees, especially the babies, had skin problems. The police told us that getting necessary medicines takes time due to the procedures they must follow, so that they are unable to provide necessary medications when needed by the detainees. The LFNKR survey group donated fourteen different kinds of first aid and medical supplies, including bandaids, in addition to clothing, and necessary goods for babies, such as powdered milk and diapers. These donations were welcomed by the police station.
The North Korean defectors are usually detained at Thai police stations for about 20 days. The head of the Nakhon Phanom police station said that, in 2017, they had accommodated about 400 North Korean defectors. The head of the Chiang Kohn police station said that they accommodated about 1,000 North Korean refugees every year up to 2015, about 700 in 2016, and about 300 in 2017. The peak was back around the year 2000, when they saw approximately 1,200 North Korean defectors come through. The percentage of males averages around 30%.
The survey group was pleased to confirm that both of the Thai police stations they visited adhere to the humanitarian policy of treating the North Korean defectors as refugees rather than criminals and never forcibly return them to North Korea.
Nakhon Phanom Police Station