US accepts six N Korean refugees

Poverty and starvation are rife in North Korea

Six North Koreans granted refugee status by the United States arrived there on Friday, a senator has said.

It is the first time the US has accepted refugees from the country since it passed a law making it easier for North Koreans to apply.

The group, which arrived from an unnamed Southeast Asia nation, included four women who said that they had been the victim of forced marriages.

North Korea's human rights record has been strongly criticized by the US.

In October 2004 President Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act, which offered US support for human rights groups in North Korea and for refugees leaving the secretive state.

It earmarked $24m (£13m) a year for such causes and made North Koreans eligible for asylum in the US.

Previously, they had been treated as citizens of South Korea, which still technically claims sovereignty over the whole peninsula.

'Need to do more'

"This is a great act of compassion by the United States and the other countries involved," Senator Sam Brownback said of the refugees' arrival, according to the Associated Press.

North Koreans seeking asylum have targeted foreign missions in China

The senator, who is one of the co-sponsors of the law, said the arrival of the group showed that "the act is working".

Last week, the US special envoy on North Korean human rights, Jay Lefkowitz, told a hearing that the US needed to do more for North Korean refugees.

"We will press to make it clear to our friends and allies in the region that we are prepared to accept North Korean refugees for resettlement here," he said.

Ten of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have crossed the border into China, but they face repatriation if caught by the Chinese authorities.

In July 2004, more than 460 refugees arrived in South Korea on a special flight from an unnamed third country, thought by analysts to be Vietnam.

Since then, there have continued to be incidents where North Korean refugees have targeted foreign missions or schools in China, seeking passage to South Korea or the US.