Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to raise the issue of forced repatriations to North Korea with the Chinese government.

We have made it clear to the Chinese government that people who have escaped from North Korea are entitled to protection under the International Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967). We have also made clear we believe the Chinese government should allow people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea safe passage to resettlement in third countries; and we encourage the Chinese government to work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to facilitate this. The then Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Richmond Yorks ( Mr Hague), raised human rights during his meeting with State Counsellor Yang Jiechi in February 2014, including the specific issue of non-refoulement of North Korean refugees. I also raised these issues with the Chinese Permanent Representative in Geneva in June 2014.