North Korean defectors here are anxiously watching the fate of a man who is being held in China after fleeing North Korea, returning and fleeing again. They wonder whether he will be sent back to the North, and whether that could be a fate that awaits them as well if they are ever in trouble abroad.
Kim Kwang-ho and his family were arrested in China on July 14, and according to one defector his fate will affect all 25,000 North Koreans who have settled in South Korea.
Kim first defected to the South in 2009 but mysteriously went back to the North along with his South Korean wife and daughter last year and was paraded before the press denouncing a South Korean plot to lure him away. He then escaped North Korea again with his sister- and brother-in-law, but was captured by Chinese security forces last month.
The South Korean government is at a loss whether to treat Kim as a South Korean or North Korean due to his peculiar history.
North Korean defectors here believe the repatriation of Kim and his family to the North would deliver a huge psychological shock to their tight-knit community here. "That would show that China is willing to send back any North Korean defector, even if he or she has a South Korean passport."
Another defector, who often travels to China for business, said, "I have a vague fear of possibly being dragged back to North Korea even though I am a South Korean citizen. I think I'd be afraid to go to China if Kim is sent back." Many defectors here agree that the South Korean government must do all it can to bring Kim and his family back to the South.
Kim is no poster boy for defectors, because he clearly harmed South Korea to some extent by going back to North Korea. Nevertheless, he has a South Korean passport, which makes him a citizen of this country, and it is the government's duty to extend a helping hand to citizens who are in trouble with the authorities overseas. If this case drags on, the government's determination to protect North Korean defectors who have settled here will be in serious doubt.
By Pak Soo-chan from the Chosun Ilbo's News Desk
