China deported 50 North Koreans on July 14, sending a group including air force pilots and entrepreneurs, and hungry refugees across the Communist allies’ Yalu River border to a fate that could entail severe punishment, even execution, for escaping their homeland. Trapped by the closure of the Sino-Korean border in January 2020 to prevent the coronavirus pandemic, the escapees had been housed at a prison in the Chinese city of Shenyang, some for as long as two years.
2021-07-27