Exclusive: As daughter of a high-ranking N.Korean official fled Laos, nine refugees were repatriated

New Focus International can now reveal that the repatriation by Laos of nine young North Korean refugees in May 2013 was closely linked to the escape of the daughter of a DPRK Ministry of Public Security official, the success of which was made public to the media on September 16. The handing over by Lao authorities to North Korean agents of the group of refugees was a first and caused an international outcry, but the children were collateral damage – the victims of North Korea’s efforts to prevent the escape of an important official’s daughter.

Laos is a common transit point for North Korean refugees. Although there is usually close cooperation between Laos and South Korea, the swift repatriation led to speculation about the North’s increasing assertiveness, as well as suspicions that South Korea’s activity in Laos was too low-key. The Laos repatriation operation, however, was triggered by the escape of a high-profile official’s daughter.

On June 11 at 01.05 KST, our Korean service, New Focus, published a piece confirming that a daughter of a high-ranking North Korean official, then a foreign student in an international school in Tianjin, China, had decided to flee to South Korea. Five hours later, the piece was removed at the request of the South Korean authorities, on the grounds that the early release of details of the operation might compromise the safety of the escapee. We complied with the request so as not to endanger the young woman’s life.

According to our source, who was directly involved in her escape, the nineteen-year-old was enrolled in an international school in Tianjin with her brother and fled on April 17^th, three days before a scheduled trip back to North Korea. At the time, her parents had not been definitely identified, but the source explained that if they could freely send both of their children abroad to school, it was highly likely that they were relatives of the Kim family or one of his high-ranking officials.

The young woman was due to return to North Korea with her brother after finishing her studies on April 20^th. During the course of her foreign exchange studies, however, she became immersed in Chinese and outside culture. When her mother confiscated her passport and personal identification, perhaps worried by her interest in the outside world, the daughter resolved not to return to North Korea in case she would never again be allowed to leave.

After making inquiries in China, she met a broker in China and left for Laos. After crossing the border, she called her elder brother to say goodbye. This call was intercepted as a result of her father’s missing persons report, and North Korean agents who were already in China were dispatched to Laos.

According to our source, unless the family were of an extremely high rank in the North Korean hierarchy, the agents would not have moved so quickly, and the foreign authorities would not have been so quick to cooperate. At the time, and unaware of the agents’ real target, media outlets speculated that the agents had been tracking the young North Korean refugees over a long period, or that it was a repatriation plot that the North Korean regime had deliberately planned to deter potential refugees.

However, the swift repatriation of the nine North Korean refugees from Laos was a tragic by-product of the operation, as the agents encountered the teenagers in the direct course of their operation to arrest the high-ranking official’s daughter. The reason that North Korea was able to set up a successful repatriation operation so quickly was because Pyongyang had already arranged for the official’s daughter to be flown back to Pyongyang.

When the repatriation by Laos first became public, media outlets in South Korea had speculated that there was a relative of a high-ranking official among the nine young refugees due to the sudden provision of a flight and the swiftness of the operation.