The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern over North Korean asylum-seekers in Russia, impacted by the newly signed agreement to repatriate illegal immigrants.

Marzuki Darusman, the Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights, urged the Russian government not to implement the extradition treaty targeting the refugees, who are in danger of torture and detention after repatriation.

“Given the practice of the DPRK to send laborers to Russia, who often work in slave-like conditions, it is feared that such a treaty could also be used to capture and repatriate workers who attempt to seek asylum,”