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By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, April 29, 2000; Page A22

BEIJING, April 28 –– China has forcibly returned a group of 60 refugees to North Korea after they protested and rioted over bad treatment in a northeastern Chinese detention center, sources said today.

The April 16 riot in a detention center near the town of Tumen along China's border with North Korea ended when Chinese authorities dispatched 100 armed troops from the People's Armed Police border guard unit to suppress the uprising, an Asian diplomat said. He said some of the refugees were injured during the crackdown, which lasted three days, but no one was killed.

The disturbance underscores China's tight policy of dealing with refugees from North Korea who flee into China seeking food, money and succor from Pyongyang's harsh regime. Officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees have expressed concern about China's policy of forced repatriation, saying it may violate international agreements and could result in incarceration, beatings and even the execution of the refugees once they are sent home.

North Korean refugees interviewed in northeastern China earlier this year recounted detailed stories of their imprisonment and maltreatment at the hands of North Korean security officials for previous attempts to sneak over the border.

In the past year, Chinese border units--along with North Korean border police--have stepped up their patrols. And China has increased the number of people forcibly repatriated to North Korea, so far returning 1,000 people, the Asian diplomat estimated.

North Koreans have been sneaking into China for several years because of the famine that began in 1994. North Korea relies on international aid to feed its 22 million people.

The Chinese government argues that the North Koreans who come to China are not refugees but economic migrants seeking food and money. An array of officials from the United Nations and aid agencies counter that the inequitable distribution of international aid in North Korea justifies calling these people refugees. During interviews early this year and last, scores of refugees said that international aid was being handed out only to people considered loyal or useful to the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Sources in Beijing said the disturbance at the camp erupted when a North Korean prisoner and a Chinese guard began fighting. One source said the prisoners had complained that their treatment in the camp was poor, they were beaten, and they were not given enough food.

The prisoner knocked the guard's head against a wall, sparking other prisoners to join the fray, the source said. Troops were dispatched to the camp and suppressed the protest. By April 19, China had begun repatriating the North Koreans. An earlier Associated Press report said the North Koreans rioted in protest of the planned repatriation of a North Korean military officer. The refugees contended that once in North Korea, the military officer risked execution. That report could not be confirmed.

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