Thai court convicts North Koreans

The North Koreans were picked up after a tip-off

A court in Bangkok has convicted 136 North Korean asylum seekers of illegal entry into Thailand.

They were part of a group of 175 North Koreans found hiding in a house in the Thai capital on Tuesday.

They were fined 6,000 baht ($160, £84) each, but will serve 30 days in jail instead, as they were unable to pay.

Once released, they are likely to be allowed to go to South Korea, which grants citizenship to North Korean defectors.

Thailand is an increasingly popular transit destination for North Koreans, and this is the largest group ever intercepted in the country.

Thai dilemma

The group - most of them women and children - were discovered crammed into a two-storey house.

A total of 45 males and 130 females were found inside the building in Bangkok's Huay Kwang district. Twenty-five of the group were children.

They appear to be made up of several smaller groups, who had made their way to the Thai capital from China.

Their discovery has presented Thailand with a dilemma. In the past, it has discreetly allowed all North Koreans to leave for South Korea, but it does not want to be seen as an easy haven for asylum-seekers.

"If someone pays the fine and the North Koreans are released, they will be taken back to an immigration detention centre," the French news agency AFP quoted an immigration official as saying after the verdict.

"After that, if any third country, which in this case is likely to be South Korea, wants to take these North Koreans, they have to make a proposal through UNHCR [UN refugee agency]."

The children were not charged, and the UNHCR has already cleared 16 other members of the group for travel to South Korea, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency said.

The United Nations views all North Korean defectors as "persons of concern", likely to face persecution if sent back.

Difficult journey

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have tried to leave their country in recent years, fleeing hunger and repression.

Most travel across the border to a region of north-east China populated by ethnic Koreans, but they face repatriation if caught by the Chinese authorities.

Some then manage to cross China to reach South-East Asia, where they have the chance of being sent on to South Korea.

Most of these transfers are done outside the public gaze, to avoid confrontations with Pyongyang.

But on rare occasions, these transfers become public knowledge. 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.

There have also been many cases of North Koreans targeting foreign embassies in China, in the hope of seeking asylum.