Page 21 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

each other as it tries to create dilemmas for the U.S.-South
Korea alliance? In Maxwell’s opinion, North Korea will always
be an independent (and malign) actor.

The second section of this volume, focused on human rights
issues, begins with an exposition by Ambassador Shin-
Wha Lee, South Korea’s Ambassador for International
Cooperation on North Korea Human Rights, aimed at
Unveiling the North Korean Human Rights Quandary (Chapter
Six). Lee argues that North Korean escapees stranded in
China face substantial risks, including forced repatriation
and trafficking. The pandemic-induced border shutdown led
to the detention of around 2,000 North Koreans in China’s
border regions. Reports of over 600 escapees, mainly women,
being forcibly repatriated around the time of the Hangzhou
Asian Games in October 2023 have raised significant
international concern. She points out that China, categorizing
these escapees as illegal immigrants, routinely deports them,
subjecting them to extreme human rights abuses upon their
return to North Korea. Given the severity of these abuses,
she calls on the international community to focus on three
key actions: advocating for the safety of repatriated North
Korean escapees, urging China to cease further repatriations,
and preventing the separation of escapee mothers from their
children in China.

In Chapter Seven, Ambassador Morse Tan, Dean of the
School of Law at Liberty University, focuses on Threats from
North Korea: A Personal View. As a senior official in the former
Trump administration, he provides an insider’s (heavily
biased but insightful) view of that administration’s success

20 Section I : North Korea-China Relations: How and Why Does Beijing Protect and Empower Pyongyang?