Nearly 100 North Korean refugees arrested in Pathum Thani

PATHUM THANI, Oct 25 (TNA) - Pathum Thani police arrested 91 North Koreans on Tuesday including 52 women and ten children below age 15 while on their way to seek asylum in South Korea.

Local police cooperated with Immigration Bureau in raiding an apartment in the north suburban province adjacent to Bangkok. The owner of the apartment fled before the raid.

Police said that the North Koreans had escaped from their country in August. One group after another, they illegally entered China before proceeding to Thailand via Mae Sai district in Thailand's northernmost province of Chiang Rai at the 'Golden Triangle' border with Myanmar and Laos. They arrived at the apartment just three days before being arrested.

According to police, the illegal entrants intended to seek asylum in South Korea. They asked the police to contact the South Korean embassy in Bangkok and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

For many reasons, police said, the detainees are unwilling to be deported to North Korea.

TNA