China handed over North Korean defector to Japan in 2020: source

It is rare for Beijing to hand over a North Korean defector as Chinese authorities typically return defectors to North Korea, according to the source

The defector, who is in her 20s, entered China in the spring of 2020 and was sent to Japan in December that year. She has since moved to South Korea

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North Korean soldiers patrol on a riverside in the border county of Uiju, in a photo taken from China’s Dandong city. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 9:30pm, 30 Dec 2022

China handed over a North Korean defector to Japan in 2020, after she was found to be the grandchild of a Japanese woman who moved to North Korea decades earlier, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

It is rare for Beijing to hand over a North Korean defector as Chinese authorities send most of the defectors they capture back to North Korea, according to the source.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry started supporting her after learning that she was the granddaughter of a Japanese woman who had accompanied her ethnically Korean husband from Japan to North Korea.

The defector, who is in her 20s, crossed into China around the spring of 2020 and was sent to Japan in December that year after the Japanese ministry negotiated for her handover.

It was around the same time that Japan and China eased border controls to resume business travel while the coronavirus pandemic ran rampant.

An official of the organisation that supported the woman said whether China handed over defectors of Japanese heritage to Japan depended on the political situation between the two countries.

The Foreign Ministry has not disclosed any information on North Korean defectors of Japanese heritage, and it declined to comment on this case.