Seoul presses China over status of North Korean defectors
Beijing unsure how to treat couple who fled North Korea to live in South, then returned
China is caught in a diplomatic quandary over how to treat North Korean defector Kim Kwang-ho and his family, who were arrested in the northeastern city of Yanji last month.
What complicates Kim's case is the fact that he and his wife originally defected from the North in August 2009 and settled in South Korea in March 2010.
Chinese authorities are trying to determine whether Kim, his wife, Kim Ok-sil, and their one-year-old daughter should be treated as North Korean citizens or as South Koreans.
Kim's daughter was born in South Korea and the family had been living in the southwestern city of Mokpo until last October, the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported.
South Korean media reported that Kim returned to North Korea in October last year to help bring his sister- and brother-in-law to the South.
He decided to go himself instead of hiring brokers, who are commonly employed to help would-be defectors leave North Korea, in order to save money, according to the reports.