The West criticizes China’s handling of North Korea on many issues, but nowhere do these critiques take such a moralistic dimension as in the repatriation of North Korean refugees.

Official Chinese practice, of treating the “refugees” not as such, but as “economic migrants” and sending them back – potentially to face brutal repercussions – even received a mention in the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the North last year.

But a survey of Chinese experts, asked how Chinese officials and the populace perceive the issue, reveals a very different perspective: Essentially, they see refugees as a very