North Korea News: North Korea is again in the headlines over the case of the sentencing of two women. This action has raised international concern. According to media reports, two women, Ri and Kang, were hanged after a public hearing in Chongjin, North Korea on August 31.

Jang Se-yul, head of the Seoul-based human rights group Gioryeol Unification Solidarity, said the women were accused of helping other North Koreans in China escape to South Korea, Radio Free Asia reported.

China forcibly sent it back.

Ri (39) and Kang (43) are among nearly 500 North Koreans who were forcibly deported by China in October 2023. Nine other women were sentenced to life imprisonment on similar charges. According to Radio Free Asia, a resident of Chongjin said the two women faced a public hearing at a market attended by hundreds of residents and merchants.

Executed in a public hearing

The hearing, which lasted just an hour, began at 11 a.m. and ended with the hanging of both women by authorities in Hamgyong province the same day. The executions are part of a larger pattern of North Korea's treatment of citizens who try to flee the country or help others flee the country.

She gets trapped in the clutches after going to China.

The country has a history of severely punishing those who try to escape or help others do so. The majority of people who flee North Korea and seek refuge in China are women. After crossing the border, many fall into the clutches of Chinese handlers who take advantage of their desperation and sell them into slavery. These women are often forced into prostitution or forced to become unofficial wives of Chinese men.

"These two women were killed because they sent North Koreans who had fled from China to their enemy country South Korea. When they first fled, they were sold to a Chinese adult entertainment business. When other North Korean women working there said they wanted to go to South Korea, they arranged to send them there," Se-yul told RFA Korean.

The international community made this appeal to China

The international community, including South Korea, has called on China to stop these forced repatriations and provide asylum or safe passage to North Koreans fleeing their country. However, China says it has a bilateral agreement with North Korea that requires the repatriation of North Koreans who are referred to as economic migrants.

Human rights groups have condemned China's actions, and stressed that as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the UN Convention against Torture, China should not repatriate anyone who would face persecution or torture. However, China has forcibly repatriated more than 670 North Koreans since 2020, including a large group of 500 people in October 2023.